


I Feel Fine

by CrystalDragonJudas



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Frequent Decapitations, Gen, Gratuitous Head-Bashing, Instant Awesome Just Add Ninjas, Zombie Apocalypse, and Wanton and Irresponsible Use of Dark Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-01-23 18:23:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 47,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1575107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalDragonJudas/pseuds/CrystalDragonJudas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When an evil curse is revived and the beautiful land of Hyrule is suddenly set upon by hordes of shuffling, undead terrors an unlikely group of heroes ventures out to save their country from its certain demise and themselves from their personal demons. Just because there's flesh-eating monsters about doesn't mean all your other problems go away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Courage

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is: the fanfiction that I've been sitting on for the past three weeks, agonising over whether I should upload it or keep it to myself! First of all, I'd like to say thanks for taking some time to read this story. Even if you're here under duress. Especially if you're here under duress. I decided to do a challenge where I hit the 'random' button on TV Tropes I and I would write a story based on that trope and lucky me got 'Everything's Deader with Zombies' so I did it and this is the result: the Legend of Zelda Zombie AU! Although technically it's a 'Re-dead Apocalypse Modern AU'. This is the first chapter of a story about zombies so it's a bit serious (and a bit short. Yikes!) but hopefully the subsequent chapters will be a little more light-hearted. What is definitely going to remain constant is the presence of descriptions of people's heads getting bashed in with baseball bats so if you don't like to see descriptions of people's heads getting bashed in with baseball bats then maybe don't read. Also, this is hopefully going to be a novel-length fanfic. We're in this for the long haul, ladies and gents!
> 
> If you leave me a comment or a kudo I will love you forever.

Link hadn't been able to sleep a wink that night. Even though he knew that he needed his rest more than ever for the stunt he was about to attempt his nerves had gotten the better of him and he had spent the entire night counting out the canned food he'd been collecting from the now-empty houses for his trip. Although he had probably assembled enough cans to build a new town in the dark, damp cellar where he'd established his base in the end he could only take a few of them with him.

Hyrule Castle Town was far away, yes, but he planned to shorten the journey by travelling by car. He'd spent the past few days checking people's houses to see if their cars were still there and if they had enough gas in them to take him all the way to Castle Town before finally settling on the one that had belonged to the Abbotts, whose cellar he was sleeping in. The Abbotts had left Ordon when the outbreak first began. Fled, Link assumed, but by some stroke of luck they had left their car behind. At any rate, if the car broke down on his way to Castle Town he needed to be sure that he could carry whatever he packed in his backpack without slowing down too much or overexerting himself.

He wasn't tired, though, despite the sleepless night nor was he anxious about the task he was about to undertake. It had become painfully clear that every moment he remained in Ordon was a moment of borrowed time. Today was the Day, he'd decided, and he would do whatever it took. Ordon might not have been a bigger village than it once was but there still couldn't have been more than two hundred people living there and it was still in the middle of nowhere. There was no-one left to help and no-one coming to rescue him, he would have to escape Ordon or else he would die there.

He waited for the noises in the street to subside, as they always did at daybreak, before he even dared to open the cellar door. Sure he was desperate but there was certainly no point in being stupid and getting himself killed. He slowly raised the door a fraction of an inch; just enough to peek through but not enough to be noticed.

Ordon was still exactly as it had been when he'd shut himself in the cellar the previous night: eerie, quiet and totally empty, the windows of the abandoned houses dark and cavernous like the eye sockets of enormous skulls bleaching in the sun. Here and there a toppled telephone pole or broken fence or odd bits of rubbish rolling across the street like tumbleweeds signified that humans had lived there once but other than that everything was as still and as silent as the grave. In the beginning he had prayed to the goddesses every night that when he got up in the morning everything would be back to normal but every morning he would awaken to the same desolate nightmare. The goddesses could be cruel when they wanted. Link knew that better than anyone.

When he didn't see or hear any shuffling feet nearby he scooped up his 'weapon', the gleaming aluminium baseball bat that he had used when he played on his high school's baseball team back before everything went to hell. His lucky bat, he'd called it. He hoisted himself through the gaping hole, shut the trap door as quietly as possible and scampered into the nearby garage.

Link cautiously approached the massive black SUV that was parked inside, glinting impressively in the half-light. Something was off though. Namely that there was a dead body sprawled across the hood of the vehicle and another one lying on the ground. Link felt a lump grow in his throat. He'd gone to school with those dead bodies. _Alek and Miriam,_ he thought despairingly before forcing himself to give the corpses a few hard whacks with his bat to make sure they were really, _really_ dead.

He grabbed formerly-Alek by the ankle and yanked him off the hood with a violent tug, wincing when his head made contact with the concrete with a loud _crack_. He took out the car key, a flat, black piece of plastic about the size of a credit card and pressed the button to open the door. Nothing happened. Link looked at the car key in annoyance. _When was the last time the Abbotts bothered to change the batteries in this thing?_ He wondered.

He chucked the useless key aside before crouching next to Alek to search the pockets of his jacket for the keys to the SUV. Obviously he and Miriam had had the same idea that he'd had and had been trying to escape when they were attacked so it made sense that one of them might have a second key on them. The real, old fashioned one that he should have taken in the first place. Unfortunately, Alek's pockets were entirely empty except for a fat wad of bills and some lint. Link put the money into one of the cavernous pockets of his green bomber jacket for safekeeping. He left the lint where it was.

He anxiously searched Miriam's body as well, doing his best to ignore the stiffness of her limbs, the pervasive smell of rotting meat and the utter depravity of what he was doing but Miriam's pockets turned out to be just as empty as Alek's, although he did manage to recover a container of mints. _Who packs mints when they're fleeing for their lives?_ Link wondered in annoyance but he pocketed the mints too.

His eyes flitted nervously to the door that undoubtedly lead to the kitchen, if his hunch was correct and all the houses in the neighbourhood were laid out the same, yet he stayed rooted to the spot, frozen with indecision. The kitchen was as good a place as any to continue his search for the keys, he knew, and he probably wouldn't be able to get out of Ordon alive without transportation. On the other hand he also knew that the insides of houses were very dangerous and should be avoided at all costs, no matter how abandoned they seemed. He'd seen so many people get killed because they'd decided to take shelter in one of the houses.

But he'd been smart. Now he was the only one left and he had a decision to make on his own.

If he went into the Abbott's house, found the key and made it back outside he could be safe and out of Ordon within the hour. On the other hand, whatever had killed Alek and Miriam could still be around and if he went into the house he might never come out again, even if he did find the key. He could try to scout one of the other houses for another abandoned car. There were plenty. Hardly anyone had managed to survive even the first wave of the attack on Ordon, he had only survived due to what had most likely been an act of divine providence. But going looking for another car meant walking exposed through the streets of Ordon, investigating new, possibly hazardous areas, moving further and further away from his established shelter. And of course if he didn't try anything at all and just stayed in Ordon he was a dead man, no two ways about it.

 _Escape Ordon or die here,_ a voice in Link's head reminded him.

His eyes flicked back to the kitchen door, noticing that it was hanging slightly ajar, enticingly. Or perhaps forebodingly. Link took a deep breath and pushed the door open. _Better the devil you know,_ he decided. The Abbott's kitchen looked surprisingly normal with everything still in its place and neat as a pin. The sunlight streamed through the white and green gingham check curtains that adorned the small window over the sink, bathing the room in warm light. Pots and pans still hung from their hooks over the stove, swaying in the gentle breeze. Even the cupboards were still closed, even though Link was quite certain that there was absolutely nothing left in them. It was more than a little unsettling, considering everything that had happened.

Link pushed his misgivings aside and got to work, pulling out a few of the kitchen drawers and searching them as quickly as he could without rattling anything inside but turned up with nothing yet again. Just as he decided that he would be better off searching for some sort of catch-all tray instead of riffling through the Abbotts' silverware a loud moan from behind him made his blood run cold.

He turned, slowly, and came face-to-face with his worst nightmare. Three re-deads were watching him curiously from their place in front of the archway that lead to the rest of the house, blocking his path. He hardly recognised two of them, their faces were so badly decomposed, but they might have been Mr. and Mrs. Abbott. Clearly, he'd been wrong about them skipping town. They'd been Turned all this time and had just been hiding out in some nook or cranny of the house waiting for someone like him or Alek and Miriam to do something stupid like come inside.

It wasn't them Link was afraid of, though, although he was plenty afraid of them. The one that truly terrified him was the one in the middle, flanked by Mr. and Mrs. Abbott's rotting frames. The one that was undoubtedly his mother. He hadn't realised that this was what had become of her. Tears immediately pricked at his eyes, threatening to fall but he quickly wiped them away. He'd have time to cry for his mother later, preferably when she wasn't trying to eat him.

The three re-deads slowly advanced on him, apparently deciding that Link was an appropriate source of food. He had no idea how they'd managed to come to that conclusion, though, since his mother was the only one among them who still had any eyes. Link began to very gradually back away towards the door to the garage, holding his breath as his hand groped casually for the doorknob. Re-deads weren't very fast, he'd learned from experience, unless he moved too suddenly or made any noise at which point they would charge him.

As if on cue, Link stumbled on a broom that had been leaning next to the door, causing it to hit the ground with a loud clatter that pierced silence of the morning like a gunshot. One of the Abbotts, probably Mrs. Abbott, judging by the remains of what Link judged to be feminine clothing that still clung to her body, lunged at him. Link threw himself to one side, instinctively dropping into a crouch and rolling out of the reach of the other two as Mrs. Abbott collided with the door Link had just been trying to get open. The two remaining re-deads turned to Link while Mrs. Abbott tried to get her limbs back under her.

Link jumped to his feet and tried to make his escape through the door that led into the house, which had been cleared now that the re-deads were coming towards him. Then one of them did the very thing he had been dreading, it opened its mouth and let out a long, high pitched scream. It wasn't the first time he had heard a re-dead's scream but he sincerely hoped that it would be his last. A profound sense of dread gripped his heart like an icy hand. His blood ran cold and his limbs seized in abject terror, trapping him mid-stride and allowing the re-deads to slowly close the distance between them.

Link squeezed his eyes shut as tremors racked his body. It looked like he wouldn't be escaping Ordon after all. But at least he had tried. All that mattered was that he had tried. _Things could be a lot worse,_ he convinced himself, although he was acutely aware that things could literally not be any worse. _I'm going to join my family. And I can finally get rid of this damn crick in my neck that's been bothering me._

As he opened his eyes to get a last glimpse of the world before he was brutally dismembered a glint from the counter furthest from him caught his attention. His eyes widened to the size of saucers. _No way,_ he thought. There was the car key, the real one this time, sitting literally five feet in front of him. If he could break free from his paralysis he still had a chance to grab them and get away.

 _Escape Ordon or die here,_ the voice in his head said again. And he certainly didn't want to die there.

He fought to regain control of his body, studiously ignoring the cold, clammy and slightly mushy grip of the re-dead that had decided to latch onto his arm. There was no way he was getting eaten when the means to his salvation was so close at hand. His fear evaporated, burned away by his newfound determination, and the spell seemed to break all at once, releasing him. All the effort Link had been pumping into his limbs to get them to move while under the effects of the re-dead's scream coursed through him all at once, causing him to shoot off like a bullet, out of the reach of the monsters and straight to the counter where the keys were sitting. The re-dead that had been holding onto him, Mrs. Abbott, had had its arm ripped cleanly out of the socket by the sudden movement and now lay uselessly on the floor. Not that it seemed to care, or even feel it as it was still charging at him, so completely focused on the task of eating his flesh that it didn't even glance down.

Link managed to seize the key and stuff them into his pocket before one of the re-deads, Mr. Abbott tackled him and he and the re-dead both went down hard in a tangle of flailing limbs. Link cracked his head against the counter so hard that he saw stars and lost his grip on the bat which went rolling out of his reach off to some distant corner of the room but he managed to get his hands up and around the re-dead's neck in time to stop it from delivering a fatal bite. Mr. Abbott's rotting face and snapping jaws completely filled Link's field of vision as he struggled to hold him at bay, a task which was proving extremely difficult. Mr. Abbott had been bigger than Link even in his normal, human state and the re-dead was significantly stronger than Mr. Abbott had ever been in life, as all re-deads were, and the boost strength Link had felt after overcoming the re-dead's curse had been short-lived and was quickly failing him. In a last-ditch effort to escape Link released the re-dead's neck and rolled to the side causing it to fall face-first against the floor.

Link scrambled to his feet and raced towards his bat while Mr. Abbott recovered himself and Mrs. Abbott and his mother converged on him, ready to tear him to shreds. Adrenaline surged through his veins and the next few moments went by in a blur. Link didn't know what he was doing but he executed it so perfectly, so naturally it felt like he was born to do it. His hand closed around the soft, purple grip of his bat just as the re-dead that had formerly been Mrs. Abbott grabbed Link by the arm and yanked him towards itself. Link somehow used the momentum to his own advantage, swinging himself in a circle around it instead of towards it. His other hand gripped the handle of the baseball bat, tightening his hold on it and he swung it with all his might at the monster, catching it in the side of its head.

Link had caved in a couple of heads before in his short time battling re-deads, but none quite so spectacularly. Mrs. Abbott's neck snapped to the side with a gruesome cracking noise but that was nothing compared to the sizeable dent the bat had left in the woman's now mushy and misshapen head. Link stared with a mixture of awe, relief and revulsion as Mrs. Abbott's body collapsed on the linoleum tiles of her kitchen and stayed there.

The growls of the other two re-deads snapped Link out of his reverie and back to the present and he bolted for the garage, feeling his pocket to make sure that the key was still there. Mr. Abbott tried to grab onto him on the way but after dispatching Mrs. Abbott with all the cold precision of a career killer Link had too much adrenaline pumping through him now to even flinch and dropped the man with one swift blow to the head.

He just managed to skid to a halt before he ran straight into the arms of the last re-dead that remained, now guarding the door. His mother. She opened her mouth and screeched at him but this time the scream produced nothing more than a tingling feeling in his extremities. She might as well have been demanding that he clean his room for all the good it had done.

Link hefted his bat to administer the killing blow but then faltered at the mast second. For a moment he worried that maybe he had been wrong and the re-dead's scream was still plenty effective but then he realised what was wrong with him. He couldn't bring himself to hurt his mother. Even though she had turned into a horrible, salivating monster, compared to the others he had seen she still seemed almost human. She still had her eyes, the same pale gold eyes that had gazed lovingly at him when she had come to tuck him into bed every night, the same eyes that she had passed on to him and his now deceased sister. Her hair was still drawn up in the trademark loose bun she wore every single day and only took down on very special occasions. She was even wearing her favourite dress, a cinched pink housedress with a pattern of tiny white flowers and nail polish in her favourite colour to match.

Link lowered his bat, defeated. He couldn't kill his mother. What sort of a person was he to even think of that? His mother snarled wetly and reached for him, almost as though she was planning to draw him into a hug and for a moment Link almost fell for it. That is, until she suddenly threw herself at him and grabbed his arms. Link panicked and swung his bat wildly, delivering a blow across both legs. His mother released him, making a high-pitched keening noise that failed to drown out the loud cracking noise her legs made as her knees broke. Link backed away, shuddering in shock at what he had just done and fighting to keep his breakfast down.

Link looked down at his mother, who now lay sprawled over the kitchen tiles snapping and foaming at the mouth in her desperation to take a bite out of him. He blinked rapidly, stunned, as his rose-tinted glasses finally shattered and he could see that those bright gold eyes of hers were now staring and devoid of any emotion, her pupils blown so wide that only a thin band of colour remained and what was left was tinged with red. Her hair, which once toed the line at stylishly unkempt was now and absolute mess. Her pink housedress was in tatters. Some of her fingernails and even a few of her fingers were entirely missing. The creature in front of him was not his mother, it wasn't even human. It was just a poor, hollow imitation of someone he used to love.

He turned away from it and made to leave through the door but the ugly gurgling noises made by the re-dead as it attempted to claw its way over to him made him think better of it. He paused for a moment in the doorway before returning to the monster's side and, after a moment's deliberation, planted his boot on its head to prevent it from struggling away as he tightened his grip on his bat and lined up his shot. It was the least he could do to honour the memory of the people of Ordon Village, he figured. The re-deads had gotten his father, his sister, his grandmother and most of his friends, all right before his own eyes. He'd tried to save them all. Of course he'd tried to save them. In the end he had failed them and afterwards there hadn't been enough left even to bury. He felt bad that he'd felt relieved that it also meant there wasn't enough left to come after him either. The least he could do was to give his mother peaceful rest.

He raised his bat, whispered a silent prayer for his mother's soul to the goddesses and swung.

* * *

That day ended up not being the Day after all. It had taken Link a long time to drag the bodies of his mother, the Abbots, Alek and Miriam to the back yard and set them all alight, a feat that was much easier achieved in movies than in real life. By the time the corpses had been reduced to piles of charred bones, which he quickly buried in shallow but separate graves in the yard nightfall had already come. No matter how desperate he was to escape Ordon he didn't think he'd ever be so desperate that he'd risk going out at night, even in a vehicle. Re-deads were a hundred times more active at night. And a hundred times more vicious. A scrawny guy like him didn't even stand a chance against them.

When he got to Castle Town he would have a new life. He would find a new place to live and a new high school to go to or else he would just get a job and a re-dead would never bother him. He was jolted out of his reverie when a re-dead wandered into his field of vision and began picking at the remains of some poor Ordonian citizen.

Link shook his head to clear it. He could never have that life he wanted. Not as long as the memory of Ordon still haunted him. He would spend the remainder of his days reliving the good times in empty lot where he'd played catch with his father as a kid and the not-so-good time his friend Elliot given himself up as a distraction to hold a horde of re-deads at bay for just long enough to give their little group sufficient time to get to safety while Elliot himself was torn to pieces.

He wouldn't be able to pass an ice-cream parlour without remembering the one that his coach used to bring the baseball team to congratulate them for a game well-played by treating them to a scoop of Ordon's famous pumpkin ice-cream. He and the team had had to hold out for almost a week on a melted vat of that Ordon ice-cream and assorted sprinkles when the horde first hit Ordon. As it was now Link never even wanted to see an ice-cream cone ever again.

He jerked himself up from the ground, went downstairs and collected a couple of pots and pans and the extra container of gasoline he'd planned on taking along with him in case the SUV stalled for gas. He realised that he was about to waste good petrol but he figured that he valued his peace of mind more than he dreaded having to walk from Ordon to Castle Town. He unlocked the front door and threw it open with a loud bang, drawing the attention of the re-deads nearby who began to moan and stagger awkwardly in his direction. It wasn't nearly enough.

"I'm right here you fetid piles of shit! Come and get me!" he all but screamed, banging the pots and pans together for good measure.

More re-deads began to converge on his location. Link locked the door, pulling a sofa in front of it to ensure that it stayed firmly shut, and climbed the stairs to the second floor. He poked his head out the window and emptied the container of gasoline over the crowd of re-deads that had gathered, emitting the horrid low moans that they made when they had spotted prey that was not quite within their reach. More were approaching from a distance, attracted by the noise made by their compatriots.

"That's right, guys, live meat! Right here!" he yelled as he struck a match and threw it into the crowd.

* * *

He spent the night sleeping fitfully in the back seat of the Abbott's SUV with the windows up and a few extra supplies he'd collected while going through the Abbotts' house clustered around him for safekeeping: a couple of flashlights, a few more tins of food, another backpack, a pair of aviators and a warm knitted beanie striped with various shades of green.

He wasn't exactly spoiled for choice where it came to shelter, after all. He'd made sure that every, last re-dead burned until it was nothing more than a pile of blackened bones. After that was done he'd driven around town and burned the houses, starting with the Abbotts', of course, the fences, the farmhouses…hell, he would have burned the river if it was possible. Then he dunked himself in the spring to wash off any ash and re-dead bits that might still be clinging to him, changed his clothes and got ready to leave. It was only a matter of time before someone took notice and came to see what was wrong now that he'd gone and sent Ordon up in a pillar of smoking plague.

Come morning, Link roused himself from sleep and forced the contents of a can of baked beans down his throat before he started the vehicle. There was no sense heading out on an empty stomach. The headlights lanced through the morning fog, casting an eerie light on his surroundings and attracting the attention of a few stray re-deads that were still milling about the area. Link put on the sunglasses to protect his eyes from the morning sun and gunned the engines.

The last memory of home he had as he left Ordon behind was that he had only ever earned his learner's permit and didn't actually know how to drive.


	2. Chapter 2

In her half-asleep state, it took Zelda slightly longer than usual to realise that someone was attempting to kidnap her. She was hardly surprised, though. She had been kidnapped many times and had become familiar enough with the process to could tell that she was being kidnapped by a complete amateur.

He had one arm wrapped around her neck in a powerful headlock, forcing her head down so she couldn't see his face. Her arms, however, were still totally loose and if he even planned on knocking her out he was certainly taking his own sweet time to do it. He was probably expecting that she would panic or be too weak to escape the headlock by herself. But Zelda was no lightweight.

She clasped her hands together and slammed her elbow into her attacker's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. The moment he loosened his grip Zelda leapt away from him, giving him a good, solid kick in the leg to aid in her escape. In the few seconds it took the man to recover from the blow to the stomach Zelda was already wide awake and had armed herself with the knife she kept in her nightgown.

He lunged at her but Zelda had seen it coming and grabbed him by the neck with both arms and threw her own weight down on him, forcing him to the ground like a bull. She was on him in a second, wrenching his arm behind his back in a painful hold and putting her knife to his throat.

A moment later a secret door in the wall slid open and her mother Impa strode in, tall dark and beautiful as usual. She folded her muscular arms across her chest. "Well done, Zelda," she said, "but you took far too long. I dread what could have happened if it had been a real kidnapper."

"Mother! How could you?" Zelda cried in outrage. "It's far too early! I was going to the bathroom!"

"And you didn't even unmask your attacker. How would you be able to identify them, in case you saw them later?" Impa went on, ignoring. She bent over, took hold of the phony kidnapper's ski mask and whipped it off in one smooth movement, revealing the bearded face of Zelda's own father.

"Daddy?" Zelda cried. "Daddy, Is that you? I thought you said you couldn't fight!"

King Mattas smiled sheepishly. "I can't," he said, "obviously. It was your mother's idea."

Zelda hurriedly climbed off her father and helped him, with great difficulty, to his feet. No wonder her attacker had done such a shoddy job at kidnapping her. Her father couldn't hope to stand up to her years of training, even on her bad days. It was a good thing she hadn't done anything to seriously hurt him.

Every morning since she was six years old Zelda's mother had insisted that she get up at the crack of dawn for her training. At first she had complained bitterly. If she was a princess then why should she have to get up early or do training? But Zelda's mother had ignored even her most plaintive cries and now, twelve years later, Zelda was something closer to a human weapon than a princess.

Her mother was one of the few surviving members of the ancient tribe of Sheikah warriors. Impa's own mother had been King Mattas' protector when he was a child and when she became too old to fight Impa assumed the role in her stead but Impa and Mattas had practically grown up together and eventually they fell in love, got married and had Zelda, whose birth had been the news of the century not only because she was the girl who would be queen of Hyrule one day but because her mother's red eyes and dark skin and her father's fair hair had left her with a rather striking combination of features.

And then there was the tattoo, a combination of the Sheikah Eye and the Royal Crest that covered nearly the entirety of her back. Her had been livid when her mother had suggested it and Zelda half-hoped that he would say no. Her mother had taken her father aside for a private chat and suddenly he'd changed his tune and said yes albeit reluctantly. Getting such a tattoo had seemed scary and painful at the time and the design seemed rather sinister but now she wouldn't feel like herself without it. The tattoo symbolised herself, as her mother had told her time and time again, but she had to keep it hidden at all times.

By the time Zelda had settled down from the excitement of the fake kidnapping and her father had stopped groaning about his back it was far too late for Zelda to bother to go back to bed and she quietly slipped away to the courtyard to get in some archery practise before the real training could begin. Of all the disciplines that her mother had taught her, archery was by far her favourite. Unfortunately it was also her mother's least favourite. Bows weren't as conducive to stealth as the throwing needles and darts her mother encouraged to practise with and were, therefore, inferior but she was allowed to continue using the bow if she wanted to.

Zelda's bow was a massive compound bow with 'the works': scope, laser sights, et cetera, dull black like all her other equipment, and it was definitely not for amateurs seeing as it took considerable strength to even draw it. She nocked and arrow, fingers smoothing over the fiberglass fletches, and fired. The arrow sailed through the air and struck the nearest target dead on. Another perfect bull's-eye.

She drew another arrow from her quiver, intending to shoot at another, slightly further target, when a faint rustling sound reached her sensitive ears. She turned swiftly on her heel, nocking the arrow at lightning speed and aiming it at one of the bushes near the edge of the courtyard.

"Who's there?" she demanded, pleased that her voice didn't waver even a little bit despite the fact that she was on edge.

"I've got a bow," she warned. "Show yourself at once or I'll skewer you."

There was a moment's silence and then a blond head poked up from the bush. "I'm unarmed," he said.

"Put your hands in the air and get out of the bush," Zelda barked, jerking her bow in the direction she wanted the intruder to go. He obeyed without complaint, stepping out of the shrub and into the light where she could see him better. He was about average height, maybe a little less than average height if she was honest with herself, and his skin was a very light tan colour which complemented his mop of blond hair and tawny eyes. He was actually pretty handsome, Zelda realised. She'd have to keep a careful eye on this one.

"Who are you?" she asked. "What are you doing here and how did you get past the guards?"

"I'm Link Fionn. I'm just looking for the bathroom," he said. His voice had a distinct twang to it. He was probably from one of the southern provinces.

"And the guards?" she asked.

"Who them? In all honesty I think they're expending a lot more energy guarding the royal shrubbery than anything of value," he said. "Not that the shrubbery isn't nice and all. A national treasure, it is."

Zelda smiled and lowered her bow. Whoever this Link Fionn was he didn't seem like any kind of real threat to her safety which was lucky for him because he was totally unarmed and she had a loaded bow and years of martial arts training. She could probably break his neck as easily as she could tie her shoes if she wanted.

"Nice to meet you, Link," she said, not offering him her hand to shake. "I'm—"

"I know who you are," Link interrupted. "Everyone does."

"Oh?" Zelda said. "Who am I then?"

" _Princess_ Zelda Harkinian-Nohansen, sole heir to the throne of Hyrule, of course" Link replied and then after a moment's hesitation he added. "And it's nice to meet you too, _your majesty_."

"You sound an awful lot like you're teasing me," she said.

"Sorry, there, princess," Link said, quirking a sly smile. "Best not to get on your bad side if I don't want to end up in the dungeons, right?"

"There aren't any dungeons," Zelda said, defensively, "so if you came to see them you're out of luck, especially since the castle is supposed to be closed to visitors right now."

Link rubbed the back of his neck. "Like I said, I'm just looking for a bathroom," he said. "Think you could show me the way there?"

"Seems you know everything already," Zelda said, nocking a new arrow and shooting at the target. "You hardly need me."

Link shrugged. "I don't know everything, I just like to keep my ears open," he said, offering her a lopsided grin. His suddenly eyes flicked to her bow. "You're a pretty good shot with that," he observed causally. "Ever killed anything with it?"

Zelda laughed and jerked her thumb in the direction of the painted targets. "Only those guys," she confessed. "It's only for sport. And what about you, do you play anything?"

Link grinned. "Other than the fool, you mean?" he asked.

Zelda couldn't help but giggle. "Yes, other than that," she said. "I mean sports, silly."

A dark expression crossed Link's face for a moment but it dissipated a moment later. "I used to play baseball with my school," he said.

"Used to? As in not anymore?"

"My team got…disbanded…" he explained.

"How sad," Zelda said. "You have my condolences."

Link suddenly perked up. "I'd rather have your number," he said, sticking his hands in his pockets and winking playfully at her.

Zelda smiled wryly. "I thought you wanted the bathroom?" she countered.

"Oh, yeah!" Link remembered. "I'd like that too!"

"Come on, I'll escort you there," Zelda said. "I wouldn't want you to get put in the dungeons for breaking into the castle."

"Ah!" Link cried triumphantly. "So there are dungeons!"

She rolled her eyes turned to lead him through the heavy mahogany doors that went back inside but found them firmly shut. She gripped the handle of one and pulled and the door swayed a bit on its hinges but did not open. A distinct jingling noise from the other side immediately told her that it had been chained from the other side. She took a step backwards and covertly glanced upwards only to see her mother watching her from the semi-circular balustrade fifty feet above her before disappearing without a word. Zelda noticed that she had deliberately left the door wide open. It was pretty clear what her mother meant for her to do.

_Oh that's lovely,_ she thought, _A test? Now?_

Zelda bit her lip. She had scaled the castle wall so many times that she could probably do it in her sleep but what was she supposed to do about Link who, even now, was eyeing her curiously. She turned to him before he could ask her what was wrong.

"Oh, I forgot that they keep these doors locked at a certain time of day," she said airily, waving her hand ineffectually to dismiss the matter. "Not to worry, though, you can use the guest bathrooms. You'll find them just on the other side of the hedge maze there."

"Hedge maze?" Link repeated, worriedly. "Wait, you're not coming with me? What about all that stuff about dungeons and getting caught?"

"Me? Oh, no. Suddenly I…I feel rather tired," Zelda insisted. "And don't worry; you won't be arrested for being in the hedge maze. Tourists go in there all the time."

Link narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. Zelda faked a yawn.

"Well, you better get your sleep then," he shrugged. "Wouldn't want Hyrule's heir keeling over from exhaustion. Nice talking to you, Princess."

He extended his hand to her and Zelda politely grasped it but to her surprise instead of the hang shake she was anticipating he pressed his lips to her knuckles, winked at her playfully and then wandered off towards the hedge maze and disappeared around the corner. Zelda opened her hand to find a crumbled piece of paper folded in her fist.

_Did he really just give me his phone number?_ She wondered. _He better not have just given me his phone number. When did he get the chance to write this? Does he just walk around with copies of his phone number in his pocket?_

Once she was sure he was gone she darted over to bushes where he had been hiding and began searching it. She didn't find any weapons but there was a sports bag with two side pockets from which protruded the handles of two shiny aluminium baseball bats. She riffled through the bag and found no balls, mitts, caps or any other sports paraphernalia other than a bottle of water but she did find a pair of binoculars, a folding shovel, a map of Hyrule, a compass, a sleeping bag and a dagger. It seemed more like he had been planning to go camping, not visit a tourist destination.

_Either that or he was planning to kill someone,_ a voice in the back of her head whispered. Zelda's blood ran cold. Was it possible that he had actually been a danger to her after all? But then why had he given her his number? And did he really expect that he could kill her with a baseball bat?

After a moment's thought she stuffed the paper with Link's number on it in her pocket and shouldered the backpack. There was no point in leaving it around so a potential assassin could come back for his equipment. After looking around to make sure that no one was watching her, she reached a hand under the hem of her skirt and released two long silver spikes secured to her hip by a garter. She then removed her boots and tied them together by their laces, which she held between her teeth. She took one spike in each hand and twirled them experimentally before approaching the wall.

It didn't take long for her to identify a fissure in that was wide enough for her to fit one of the spikes into. Hyrule Castle was centuries old and old buildings were riddled with cracks and crevices that made them easier to climb. She pulled herself up, fitting her bare toes into a small gap between two bricks before stabbing the other spike into the wall as well. She continued climbing, straining herself a bit more than usual due to the added weight of Link's backpack, going hand over hand until she reached the balustrade where her mother had been. She stood balancing on the railing as she surveyed the castle grounds and spotted Link far below wandering in the hedge maze, apparently lost. She allowed herself a small smile. Perhaps he hadn't been a real threat after all. She felt a bit guilty for stealing his things.

Instead of going through the glass door leading in from the veranda, she shut it to keep the draught out, climbed back onto the railing and leapt onto the leapt onto the awning over the door. Even though she'd made the climb in good time the extra minutes she'd wasted trying to get rid of Link and then searching his bag meant that she was still late for breakfast. Her mother hated it when she was late for breakfast. She would probably get off easier if she didn't show up at all than if she arrived late to the table. After scrambling for a moment for purchase, she stabbed her spikes into the wall and continued climbing hand over hand, digging her toes into any available niche, until she reached the roof.

* * *

Breakfast must have been particularly delicious that night because although Zelda had descended from her perch on the castle rooftop at the usual time when she approached the dining room breakfast had only just ended and her parents were walking down the hall with their arms interlocked when Zelda swung herself into it via the window to see if she could snag a bite to eat.

The sound her bare feet made when they hit the marble tiles was barely audible but it was enough to cause her mother to turn suddenly and catch a glimpse of Zelda as she attempted dash around a corner and hide behind a vase. Zelda groaned. She might be well-trained at sneaking but her mother had taught her everything she knew. And of course she hadn't yet taught her everything _she_ knew. Zelda had no hope of outwitting her just yet. Her mother chose not to call to her or comment, although there was no way that she had missed the open window, but Zelda caught a glimpse of an expression that indicated that she would be running a few extra laps during morning training as punishment for her absence as she flew by.

"What is it, Impa?" her father asked, concern apparent in his voice. "Did you hear something?"

There was a brief silence before her mother said pointedly, "Yes, but I think it was just the wind. There's a bit of a draught in here, don't you think?"

Then there was the sound of footsteps as her parents went on their way.

To escape her mother's scrutiny she decided to set up camp in her father's office under the pretence watching the news instead of heading to her room and risking discovery. One her father joined her after returning from his morning walk he graciously sent word to the cook to have some food sent up to them: a plate of egg muffins for her, butter cookies for him and tea for the both of them. Zelda curled up on one of the deep-tufted throw pillows off the loveseat that occupied the place between the two doors to watch the television as she ate while her father did his best to divide his attention between it, his newspaper and plate of cookies he was balancing on his lap.

She hardly paid attention to most of it; it was just the standard fare. A group of Zora protestors was picketing a company that was trying to construct a new storage facility near the river that flowed down from Zora's domain. A man in heavy spectacles and a blue suit discussed the sudden scarcity of oran berries and what it would mean for the price and availability of blue potion. A fireman had saved a kitten from a burning building. And then suddenly…

"Daddy," Zelda said, "could you turn the TV up please?"

"Of course, my dear," the king replied and then spent a goodly amount of time fumbling for the remote, much to Zelda's annoyance.

The report was half over by the time he located the remote in his desk drawer and turned up the volume but from the presence of cable car tracks and the steaming volcano peak in the background Zelda guessed that the story was unfolding in Kakariko. A pretty young reporter was gesturing behind her and talking about a squad of about one hundred riot police who were trying to hold off what looked like the largest group of angry protestors Zelda had ever seen. A tingling at the back of her skull that Zelda called her 'Sheikah senses' tipped her off that something deeply wrong was happening.

Upon closer examination she noticed that none of the 'protesters' was wearing special T-shirts or chanting slogans and there was not a picket sign in sight. They seemed plenty angry, though, almost violent, mashing their faces against the clear polymer of the officers' shields, clawing at it as though they planned to rip them limb from limb yet they all had vacant looks in their red-rimmed eyes. There were other suspicious things in the shot as well. Many of the houses in the distance had boards nailed across the doors and the lower windows. And one house in particular had a crude barricade constructed around it from parts of a chain link fence and coils of barbed wire. All of the houses were dark and empty.

Just as Zelda opened her mouth to ask her father if he had noticed anything out of place the television emitted a high, keening wail that made her hair stand on end and caused a peculiar tingling feeling in her fingers. One of the officers in the front rant froze, limbs quivering with fright and two of the rioters latched onto his legs. They yanked him out of the formation and into the crowd and then, to Zelda's immense surprise and horror, proceeded to rip him to pieces.

The rest of the rioters crashed through the gap in the now horrified ranks, scattering the formation. Some of the police were frozen in place by the protestors' petrifying screams and were swallowed up by the horde while the rest ran, presumably for their lives.

"What the hell is going on here, Jack?" The reporter said to someone off screen, probably the cameraman or one of the crew.

'Jack' had only just begun to reply but was suddenly cut off when someone else cried, "Oh my goddesses what is that?"

The camera swung to the left as the cameraman turned to look. Another crowd of people had assembled at the top of the hill the news crew was standing, an indistinct black silhouette with several pairs of glowing red eyes. The group hung there for a moment, menacingly, before one of them released the piercing shriek and charged the reporters, causing the others to follow suit.

The camera began to shake as the cameraman, the reporter and the entire film crew ran screaming in the opposite directon, pursued by the horde. The first one to catch up with them, a woman with sandy blonde hair, grabbed the reporter by the arm while another fisted a hand in her well-coiffed hair and yanked, jerking reporter's head to the side.

Zelda wasn't sure whether she or the reporter had screamed louder when the sandy-haired woman sunk her teeth into the woman's neck but neither scream was loud enough to drown out the horrible noise of snapping tendons and breaking bones as the rest of the horde set upon the unfortunate reporter and then, she assumed, the rest of the crew. The world suddenly tilted sideways as the camera fell to the ground.

The video suddenly cut off, replaced by a screen of brightly coloured bars and message that read 'TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES PLEASE STAND BY' but Zelda was numb with the shock of having just seen a woman dismembered on live television and hardly noticed it. The office phone immediately started ringing off the hook and Zelda decided that it was time to take her leave when her father hurried to answer it.

She stepped outside and collided with her mother, who was standing directly outside the door to her father's study. The impact made her stumble and would have sent them both sprawling but her mother managed to catch herself flawlessly as usual and somehow found the time to catch Zelda too. Zelda expected to be criticised for her shoddy recovery or to be asked about her conversation with Link but to her surprise her mother's eyes were full of concern, not censure, as she patted the dust off Zelda's clothes. Her mood was as close to panic as Zelda had ever seen it. Had she seen the news too?

"Mother?" Zelda asked tentatively, filled with dread by her mother's expression. "Mother, what's wrong?"

"Zelda," her mother said, gripping her arms a little too tight. So she had seen the news after all. "There are some very important things I must tell you."

Zelda's mother told her everything. The cannibalistic hordes she had seen on the news were re-deads, horrible undead monsters that feasted on the flesh of the living and could produce a scream was so profoundly terrifying that it would leave its victim frozen in fear. Some of them were older than the hills, locked away deep underground in their crypts, but the ones she had seen on the news were fresh. In ancient times the Sheikah clan had protected humankind from the threat of the undead but now that there were precious few of Sheikah descent left in the world, and there were even less who still swore allegiance to the clan, there were simply not enough of them to keep all the re-deads under control. As a result the undead had found their way back to the light and were resuming their dark designs.

Zelda blinked stupidly for a moment, stunned by what she was hearing. What her mother had just told her was a horror story, the stuff of nightmares. If she hadn't just seen proof of her mother's words in grisly detail she would have just dismissed it as another of her scary Sheikah stories. She had always been so good at telling those. Her mother shook her to get her attention.

"Do you understand what I just told you?" he mother asked urgently.

"Y-yes," Zelda replied weakly. "I understand."

"Good," her mother said. "These creatures are dangerous, Zelda. More dangerous than you can imagine. If one attacks you and you are bitten, you become one of them, even if you escape alive."

Zelda swallowed thickly. Could it be that this was what her mother had been training her for all her life? How could she have known this would happen? Licking her lips nervously, she decided to ask what she thought was the most salient question. "How to we kill them?"

"We?" her mother asked, not unkindly but when Zelda didn't answer she continued. "You don't. While it's true that they're still walking those creatures are undeniably dead. What you are seeing is simply the effect of a very evil and ancient curse. It's possible to kill them by destroying their heads but the only way to truly destroy a re-dead is to break that curse."

"And how do you do that?" Zelda wondered.

"You must burn the corpse immediately," her mother explained. "It is the only way to purify them." She paused for a long time before finally speaking up, as though deciding whether or not she should say what she was thinking. "Do you remember the fire in Ordon?"

Zelda nodded. The Ordon fire had happened two years ago but there was no-one in Hyrule who _didn't_ remember it. One day Ordon had been a thriving farming village, the next a smoking pile of rubble. Since no Ordonian had been seen since the fire the entire area had been littered with skeletal remains the entire population of the village had been presumed dead.

"The fire department said that it was an accident," she said in a quiet voice.

"The Shadow Council doesn't think so," her mother said.

Zelda blinked slowly, stunned. After the Crown, the Shadow Council governed every person of Sheikah descent in Hyrule, even those who had forsaken the clan. If they were investigating the Ordon fire it meant that something very serious indeed had happened there. She might have only become privy to the Sheikah's that particular function of the Sheikah a few moments ago but she was smart enough to connect the dots herself. Ordon hadn't burned down out of the blue, it had been stricken and someone had destroyed it to halt the spread of the plague.

"Does father know about all this?"

Her mother shook her head. "Your father knows some of it. Because he is king there are certain things he needs to know," she explained, "but much of what I have told you are clan secrets and although your father is the king and my husband he's still not clan. Not true clan. What I've just told you is for the ears of the Sheikah only."

Zelda felt a strange sensation, like a light bulb was being switched on in her head, and suddenly remembered the conversation she'd had in the courtyard with Link. He had known something. She wasn't sure how _he_ knew when she hadn't even known anything herself, but somehow he had known. Why else would he have been out so early carrying around all that equipment? Why else would he ask if she'd ever killed anything? The more she thought about it, the more it made sense to her and she realised that it was imperative that she find Link and press him for answers. Butsomeone would be coming to take the royal family away to a safe location at any moment now and she had to see Link before that happened and find out what he knew. But how would she get away?

"I have to go to the bathroom," she blurted out.

It was another terrible lie and her mother saw right through it. Or at least she thought she did. "Of course, Zelda," she said, patting her daughter's shoulder. "I understand that this is a lot to absorb. Please take all the time you need, we'll finish talking about this later."

With that she straightened up and strode from the hall leaving Zelda by herself to ruminate on all the new information she had acquired and the lie she had just told her mother. But there would be ample time to feel guilty later; for now she had to move. She returned quickly to her room and collected the things she thought she would need for her little excursion; her emergency backpack as well as Link's, the suit of dark blue clothing that she wore to train in and a small selection from the hidden cache of weapons she kept in her closet and headed for the window. She threw the backpacks out the window and then followed herself, extending her knees upon impact and rolling forward into a tumble to make sure she didn't break anything, just as her mother had taught her then swiped the dust off her clothes and headed off into the city.


	3. Zombie League Baseball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ha! I faked you out there, didn't I?
> 
> Anyway, as a note pertaining comments about the actual story, I like to imagine that in the modern day Kakariko Village becomes a huge city and in my mind's eye it has cable-cars and looks a lot like San Francisco. It's just called 'Kakariko' now because 'Kakariko City' sounds weird.
> 
> Please enjoy guys, your readership means so much to me!

 

Link had never been a fan of parties. Sure, he could be social if he wanted to and people had told him that he could be clever or even charming, but parties had never been quite his cup of tea. He'd gone to a party on the outskirts of Kakariko with his friend Ben for the sole purpose of being his designated driver and even then he'd spent the duration of his stay drifting at the fringes of the mass of writhing bodies or hovering, birdlike, over the refreshments. He might dislike parties but he certainly _didn't_ dislike refreshments.

Now he was doing his best to ignore Ben's drunken rambling on the way home (Ben was a horrible, unfunny drunk) when he noticed that his arm was wrapped in gauze. Link guessed that the injury must be brand new because the gauze was still clean and white with the exception of the dark red spot seeping through it.

"What's that?" he inquired, trying to keep Ben awake so he wouldn't have to haul him out of the truck.

"What this?" Ben asked, sounding irritated. "What's _this_ you ask? It's nothing. Some crazy bastard bit me at the party."

Link paled. "Bit you?" he said weakly.

"He must have been cooked off his rocker or something. Unbelievable!" Ben replied, shaking his head of dark hair. "Oh hey. You're passing my stop, man."

Link slammed his foot on the brake suddenly, jerking the van to an abrupt halt. Fortunately, Ben was too drunk to care that he'd nearly been given a whiplash and just laughed raucously before opening the door and jumping out. Link watched as he walked in lazy zig-zags, stabbed at the lock of his front door with the key for a few times and finally let himself in.

 _This can't be happening,_ Link thought desperately. _Not now! There's no more re-deads because I killed them all in Ordon. Ben is perfectly fine, he hasn't been bitten!_

But what if he was?

Ben worked with the kitchen staff in Hyrule Castle, right in the centre of the largest city in Hyrule. If he really _had_ been bitten and he turned in the middle of Castle Town he could cause untold devastation. His mind raced to formulate a plan as he drove home. He would just offer Ben a ride to Hyrule Castle in the morning and keep an eye on him to see if he turned. He probably wouldn't, but if he did he'd just have to put him down before he could wreak havoc inside the castle. Link felt guilty for making plans to smash someone he knew in the head in such a callous manner but there was really nothing for it. For two years he'd been tormented by nightmares of waking up one morning to find that Castle Town had been overrun by the undead and it had made him more than a little paranoid.

 _It's probably nothing,_ he tried to assure himself as he collected his emergency backpack. _Maybe that guy who bit Ben really was just cooked off his rocker and I'll get to go home and I won't have to kill anyone._

Link slept in his van outside Ben's apartment, just to make sure he didn't miss him and Ben, who was nursing a serious hangover, was more than pleased to accept Link's offer. Sneaking onto the castle grounds had been easy since the guards seemed to be merely patrolling and not guarding anything in particular. Everything was going smoothly and nothing bad was happening, much to his relief. But then the princess had happened. She just had to happen along with her pretty hair and her sparkling eyes and her giant bow and throw a wrench in his plan. Link had spent a good portion of his morning looking for his backpack around the castle grounds after the princess had left. In the end he'd been forced to return to his apartment to get ready for work because he was sure that if he was late to work one more time he'd probably get fired.

As usual, he switched on the radio that hung by a hook from the showerhead as he hosed himself down, hoping to calm his nerves after a long night of 'partying' and a long morning of re-dead hunting. Unfortunately, instead of his usual morning show an emergency news bulletin was being broadcasted from Kakariko and its contents were anything but calming.

"I'm here in Kakariko where a presumed protest has turned into absolute carnage," the reporter said. "The incident began very early this morning when a squad of riot police was called in this morning to disperse what was assumed to be a violent protest and the 'protesters' attacked their formation, bit into them and literally tore them to pieces. Since then, there has been a reported five hundred atta—"

Link shut off the radio before the reporter could finish her sentence. He'd heard more than enough.

 _Oh my goddesses,_ Link thought weakly, shutting off the water. _I have to get back to Hyrule Castle._ Someone started knocking on the door just as he was emerging from the shower distracting him for just long enough that he slipped and nearly cracked his head on the sink.

"I'm coming!" Link yelled as he picked himself up. It was probably just the creepy neighbour guy coming to borrow his dustpan again. Link wondered why he didn't just buy his own.

The knocking came again, louder this time. "I said I'm coming!" Link shouted, snatching a towel to cover himself with as he approached the door.

There was silence for a moment and then the knocking resumed with vigour. Link grabbed the doorknob and nearly wrenched the door off its hinges in his annoyance. "Goddess dammit, Tingle! Can't you wait a bit I was in the..." his mouth fell open in surprise. " _Princess_?"

Princess Zelda was standing before him, her outfit unchanged save the addition of several long hunting knives to her belt and her fist raised as if to continue knocking on the door. And here he was wearing a towel and not much else. Words failed him.

"Hey, that's mine!" Link said for lack of anything better to say, pointing at the backpack.

Zelda casually tossed him the backpack. "Oh yes," she said, "I took it. Sorry about that, I thought it might contain something untoward. Like a bomb or some such."

Link caught the backpack, blinking stupidly in his confusion. "How…how did you find me?"

"How indeed," Zelda replied archly. "You only gave me your full name and your phone number."

"Remind me not to do that again in the future," he said with a nervous smile.

"I will," she said, eyes flicking upwards as she looked over his shoulder and into his apartment. "May I come in?"

Link had no idea what Zelda could possibly want with the likes of him and he doubted that it was good but he could hardly refuse the princess of Hyrule could he? He reluctantly invited her in, suddenly feeling conscious of the mess in his apartment and his near-naked state. He excused himself and rushed to change his clothes while Zelda made herself comfortable in his living room. She looked very odd sitting in his beat-up pleather sofa-bed with her collection of knives and regal bearing.

"Are you a janitor?" she asked when she saw him. The question confused him until he noticed she was looking at the suit of navy blue coveralls he had laid out earlier to change into. He had opted for plain clothes instead, seeing as he was heading back to the castle.

"Um, no. I'm a mechanic," Link replied and then quickly tacked on, "your majesty."

Zelda laughed. "So formal," she teased. "You can relax; I'm not here to do anything that'll get you in trouble or anything. I just came to talk."

Talk? Somehow he had a hard time believing that she'd come all the way to his apartment in the bad part of town just to talk. He eased himself down in the rickety wooden chair opposite her and did his best not to appear anxious. "Alright, so talk," he said.

Zelda paused for a moment, as though thinking of what to say to him. Link noticed that her body remained oddly still, without any of the tapping, drumming or fidgeting people usually engaged in while thinking. He assumed that they'd trained that out of her in princess school.

"Did you see the news?" she asked finally.

Link nodded. "I heard a fireman saved a kitten from a tree," he said. "It was a pretty cute story."

"Oh, you know what I mean," Zelda said irritably.

Link decided to drop the pretence. "The attack in Kakariko, right?" he said. "Yeah, I saw it. What of it?"

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

"I know literally nothing about the attack in Kakariko," Link said. He didn't mention that he'd been in Kakariko mere hours before the outbreak started. That would have been unwise.

Zelda paused and tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment. "And what about the fire in Ordon?" she said out of the blue. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that either, right?"

Link's blood ran cold. There was no way she could have known that he had started the Ordon fire. There had been no witnesses since he was the only survivor.

"Me?" he said, trying not to sound defensive. "Why would you even think that?"

Zelda narrowed her red eyes at him.

"How did you know?" he admitted weakly.

"I didn't," Zelda said, a triumphant smile on her pretty face. "It was a hunch."

"A what?" Link said flatly.

Zelda shrugged. "Did you ever just know something? Like you had no reason to suspect it but you just somehow _knew_ without a doubt?"

"Not once in my entire life have I ever done that."

Zelda shrugged. "It's hard to explain. I just knew somehow. It was like someone had whispered everything I needed to know in my ear. And you shouldn't confess your crimes so easily, Link. Always deny."

"Thanks for the advice, princess." Link said, wondering what sort of advice that was for a princess to be giving. "Again."

"Oh, you're quite welcome," Zelda replied.

An oppressive silence fell over them after that, making Link feel tremendously uncomfortable.

"Was your baseball team really disbanded?" Zelda asked finally.

Link chuckled darkly. "More like 'dismembered'," he admitted.

Zelda bit her lip again. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she said.

"It's alright," Link said and then, feeling the beginnings of another awkward silence in the making quickly added, "You should probably go."

"Go? Go where?"

"Away," Link said slowly, as though speaking to a small child. "Back to the castle. It's only a matter of time before someone comes looking for you to whisk you away to some top-secret secure location and I don't want to be wanted as a kidnapper when they find you gone." Not to mention it was his way back into Hyrule Castle so he could look for Ben, his lame job be damned. He'd rather be unemployed and uneaten than working and undead any day. "How did you even get here?" he asked.

"I walked, of course!" Zelda said, sounding annoyed.

Link quirked an eyebrow at her. Hyrule Castle was a good distance from the crappy neighbourhood his apartment building was in. There was no way she'd walked that far without being identified.

"Come on, we'll take my car," Link said. The ancient springs of the armchair protested loudly as he hauled himself out of it.

"You have a car?" Zelda wondered aloud but she walked through the door that Link graciously held open for her and out into the hall.

Link took her to the underground car park beneath his building, one of the few conveniences that his building offered. The flickering fluorescent lighting turned Zelda's skin a sickly off-greenish colour. Her eyes darted about constantly, anxiously searching the shadows for goddess-knows-what. Link ignored her discomfort and lead her to his car, a huge black pickup truck with the plough off a snowplough welded to the front. He'd been reluctant to part with the SUV he'd escaped from Ordon in in case he needed to repeat the stunt, but in the end he'd had to sell it for enough money to pay for his apartment. Zelda was looking curiously at the plough but seemed to sense that he was done talking and didn't ask about it. Instead, she accepted his proffered hand and used it to climb into the truck and sat quietly as Link climbed into the drivers' seat beside her.

Link eased out of his parking spot and then urged the van up the ramp to the boom gate that was being manned by a bored looking security guard. He characteristically refused to raise the gate when Link approached.

"Name and apartment number?" he said.

"Mido it's me. I just came in here forty-five minutes ago," Link said, annoyed. "Let me out."

Mido the guard sighed, removing the pencil he had been chewing from his mouth. "Name and apartment number, _sir_ ," he repeated.

Link groaned. "Link Fionn; apartment 5J. Please open the gate."

The guard opened a ledger and began flipping through the names very slowly out of what Link presumed to be pure malice. "Ah, yes, Link Fionn; apartment 5J. Here you are." He was just reaching over to activate the mechanism that operated the boom gate when he spied Zelda. "Wait a minute, who's the girl."

"Oh for Din's sake man, I don't have ti—"

Zelda put a hand on Link's arm to silence him and leaned over him to look out the window. "My name's Zelda," she said sweetly. "I'm a friend of Link's."

The guard scratched his chin. "A friend, eh?" he said. "I wasn't aware that this guy had any friends."

"Yes, sir, A close personal friend," Zelda said meaningfully. "And I need to get back to my apartment to change so I won't be late for work."

"Ah, yes. I see," the guard said and, to Link's relief, he finally opened the gate. Link sped out before Mido could do anything that would really make him upset.

"So, you're a close personal friend of mine, eh?" Link said with a grin.

"Oh yes, very," Zelda said teasingly, although she kept her expression neutral. "I can't believe you would forget! How could you? We're through, Link Fionn! You hear me? Through!"

Link was about to make a snippy comeback when Zelda's eyes suddenly widened and she pointed out the windshield.

"Link, look out!" she cried and Link put his foot on the brake just in time to avoid being blindsided by the ambulance and the convoy of police cars that went screaming by.

"What was that?"

"An ambulance," Zelda said. "They're taking people to the hospital, as ambulances are wont to do."

Link's eyes widened. "They can't!" he cried. "They can't do that! What if they're from the attack in Kakariko? They could be infected! You have to do something?"

"Me?" Zelda cried. "What do you expect me to do?"

"I don't know! Something!" Link cried, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "You're the princess here! Go to the hospital and tell them those people are dangerous!"

"Oh, of course, why didn't I think of that?" Zelda replied cuttingly. "I'll just waltz in and say to the administrators 'yes, I'd like you to throw these people out of the hospital and allow them to die because I think they may be deranged cannibals'. Brilliant. Oh, or perhaps you would prefer to lock everyone inside the hospital and then burn it to the ground, since that seems to be your modus operandi."

Link scowled. "Those people were trying to eat me," he snapped.

Zelda blushed and looked down at her hands. "Sorry, I didn't mean that," she said quietly. "I'm a bit scared; I have no idea what to do in this situation. They don't exactly teach you how to deal with the undead in finishing school."

Link put his hand over her smaller one and patted it awkwardly. He hadn't exactly been fast on his feet when the horde had first attacked Ordon either. "It's alright, Princess, we'll think of something," he said.

A child that was crossing the road. Link slammed his foot on the brake for the second time that night, nearly giving the two of them a whiplash with the sudden stop. Zelda was out of the car in a second and rushed to the child's side while. He realised what was happening a second too late.

"Zelda, get back!" he shouted, grabbing his bat from the back seat and diving out of the truck just as the child jolted upright and snapped at Zelda's arm.

Zelda screamed and jerked out of the way but the child lunged at her with a snarl, scratching and snapping at her face and neck as Zelda held it at arm's length by its shoulders and screamed in unbridled terror. Link was over in a second.

"Zelda!" he shouted. "Close your eyes and turn your head!"

He worried for a moment that she couldn't hear him over the noise of her own screams but thankfully she obeyed. Link swung his bat at the child's head and it suddenly went limp and collapsed on top of Zelda as the side of its head caved in like a crushed soda can.

Zelda didn't get up. She didn't do anything at all. She just lay there, stock still. For a moment Link thought that something terrible had happened to her.

"Get it off, Link, please get it off," she said in a very quiet voice.

She wasn't hurt, she was just scared. Link hurried to comply, throwing the un-dead child carelessly to the side and helping Zelda to her feet. He bit his lip, realising that he was going to have to ask the obvious question. "Did it bite you?" he asked, not too forcefully to avoid frightening her further.

Zelda looked at him, her eyes shining. "What?" she asked dumbly.

"The re-dead, did it bite you?" he asked again.

He watched with bated breath as Zelda patted herself down, checking herself for broken skin. "No," she replied.

"Oh thank the goddesses," Link said, his entire body deflating with a sigh of relief. To his surprise, Zelda threw herself into his arms and burst into tears. He rubbed her shoulder and patted her white-blonde hair as she blubbered into the sleeve of his bomber jacket and assured her that everything would be alright. It was a boldfaced lie, of course. He knew that the infection could spread quickly but how had it gone from Kakariko to Castle Town so fast? And besides the little girl re-dead he'd just killed didn't have any bite-marks on her so how had she gotten sick?

Link shook his head realising that it wasn't his job to figure out these things and that should probably be focusing on getting out of Castle Town before it was totally overrun and he couldn't escape. But what about the people in the hospital?

"Zelda," he said gently.

"Zelda, I need you to stop crying and listen. This is very important," he said firmly.

Zelda nodded and looked at him. Her red eyes were still shining with tears but she seemed to have pulled herself together. She was doing better than he had at first.

"We need to go back to the castle," he said. "I need you to tell your father about what's going on. Maybe there's something he can do to save everyone."

Zelda nodded and wiped the remainder of her tears away with the sleeve of her camo jacket. "Alright," she said. "Let's go."

She walked back to the truck with her shoulders slumped and without saying another word, which Link found utterly heart breaking for some reason. _At least I have a plan this time,_ he thought. _Things will go better this time._ Which, of course, was the cue for everything to go wrong.

A piercing scream sounded for the direction of the silent houses. Zelda froze with her hand on the truck's door handle but the panicked look in her eyes and her trembling limbs told Link that she hadn't simply stopped to admire the scenery. Link immediately hefted his bat and turned in the direction of the noise.

A family of re-deads was shuffling from the doorway of one of the houses directly towards them, dressed in all black as befitted the occasion. A dark-haired woman that Link assumed to be the mother was in the lead, staggering at what Link considered to be a remarkable speed for a re-dead which was to say at about a mile per hour. Link tightened his grip on the bat, ignoring the familiar tingling sensation in his fingers, as he realised that he would have to fight.

There were five of them in all, more than Link had ever fought by himself, but Zelda had been paralysed by their scream and they would definitely get her if he left her behind. What sort of person would he be to leave her to get eaten? A despicable one is what.

Without another thought Link charged the mother re-dead. Sunlight glinted off the bat's shiny gold finish as he swung it in an upward arc that caught her in the chin and knocked her off balance, allowing him to finish her with a second strike to the temple. A second re-dead attempted to grab him by the sleeve of his jacket as the woman collapsed on the ground with a faint whine but Link whacked that one as well and dropped it with one blow.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Zelda fall forward against the van's door as the effects of the re-deads' scream wore off. She was shivering and sweating but she had the wherewithal to climb into the driver's seat. The van sped off down the road, blowing past Link and the remaining three re-deads in a gust of wind. Link panicked, worried for a moment that she was leaving him behind, until he saw her make a very illegal U-turn at the end of the street and come hurtling back in his direction.

"Link! Out of the way!" she yelled, sticking her head out of the window.

Link didn't need to be told twice. He wrenched himself from the grip of the re-dead that was attempting to bite into his arm and threw himself to the side of the road and out of the pickup's way. He heard a _bang_ and a sickening crunch as Zelda ran over the re-deads, that had been attracted to her by the noise of the revving engine, and looked back just in time to see her throw the van in reverse and back over them causing one of the re-dead's skulls to burst open like a watermelon. The other two were still alive and continued to snarl and snap at him as he climbed into the passenger seat but with their crushed limbs he didn't doubted that they would be going anywhere.

The castle windows were dark and silent. Link bit his lip, fearing the worst, but Zelda obliviously bounded out of the car. She shot Link a sharp look when he grabbed his backpack and began to unbuckle his seat belt to follow her.

"You're not coming with me," she said.

"Of course I'm coming with you," Link said. "What if there's re-deads in there?"

Zelda looked like she wanted to argue but ended up nodding and allowing Link to follow her to the enormous front door, which had been left suspiciously unguarded. Zelda tried shoving it.

"It's locked," she said.

They tried several side doors and found them all equally impassable, even when Link tried to force them open.

"This is stupid," Link said, raising his bat. "Let's just break the window. Stand back, princess."

"Link, don't!" Zelda protested. "Those windows are hundreds of years old!"

"Did you have a better plan?" Link grunted.

"As a matter-of-fact, yes," Zelda replied, turning her pretty nose up. "I was just going to climb up to one of the upper floors and look for an open window there."

"Too time-consuming," Link countered. "And what if there's re-deads up there? You'll be all alone! What then?"

"There won't be, Link," Zelda sniffed. "Just cool it."

"Alright, fine," Link scowled, knowing when he was beaten. "Just be careful, alright?"

"Thank you, Link," Zelda said, going to the wall and preparing herself for the climb.

Link smashed the window as soon as she turned her back. "Whoops," he said when Zelda rounded on him angrily. "That was an accident." Zelda shot him a cutting look. "Don't look at me like that, I found us a way in! Let's go."

Zelda pushed past him disgustedly and climbed in first and Link followed, taking care to avoid the bits of glass that stuck out in every direction like jagged teeth. The entire castle was dark and silent with no servants, nobles or people of any kind to be found anyway. The only light was that came streaming in from the wide the floor to ceiling windows, casting short shadows on the marble tiled floor. Link realised that it was already midday and wondered if there be enough daylight left for him to get out of Castle Town before nightfall.

"There's no-one here," Zelda whispered.

"They could be dead," Link said, wincing at how callous he sounded.

Zelda turned to him with a ferocious look in her eyes. "They are _not_ dead, Link," she snapped

"Oh you think so?" he demanded, suddenly irritated by the princess's denial. "Well then tell me, Zelda, if your parents really are still alive then why didn't they take you with them? Why didn't they wait find you before they left? You're their only kid right? You'd think they'd look out for Hyrule's only heir better than that! So what other explanation is there?"

The next thing he knew he'd been knocked flat on his back and Zelda was standing over him, trembling with rage. It took him a moment to realise that Zelda had punched him in a fit of pique. He had to give it to her, the girl hit like a truck.

"Stop talking!" she cried.

Link stayed where he was, touching a hand to his nose and gaping at it when it came back bloody. He opened his mouth to say something cutting but thought better of it when he saw the way she was clenching her jaw. "Have it your way," he said at last.

"I will, thanks," Zelda said, turning her back to him and walking off.

She didn't speak a word to him when he picked himself up and caught up with her Zelda and Link noticed that she was crying again. He also noticed that she was doing her best to hide her tears so he did what he considered to be the noble thing and pretended not to notice them. In truth he felt terrible for making her cry. Worse than terrible. He'd definitely pushed her too far with his tirade.

It didn't take long to determine that the castle was entirely empty. No re-deads but no people either. It was probably time to call it quits and formulate a new plan but he was unsure of how to broach the subject with Zelda. Thankfully Zelda spoke first.

"If we're leaving can we stop off at my room first? There are some things I think I should get."

Link simply shrugged which Zelda seemed to take as a 'yes' because she nodded and started off at a brisk trot, leading Link through a series of nearly identical vaulted marble hallways until eventually they came to a door which he assumed led to her room because the door was light blue.

"After you," she said, gesturing for Link to proceed through the door.

He did and was instantly taken aback by the opulence of the room. The carpet was so soft that his boots sank down into it like grass and the chandelier suspended from the ceiling looked like it could have paid his rent for the next six years or so. Zelda, apparently oblivious to the magnificence surrounding her, disappeared into what Link assumed was a walk-in-closet. She tossed out a few suits of clothes, which was to be expected, before lugging out an enormous case. Link watched curiously as she opened them up and removed the giant bow he'd seen her using in the courtyard that morning along with a matching crossbow and several quivers of arrows and bolts for each of them, knives of all shapes and sizes, darts, needles and flechettes for every occasion and a couple of things that Link couldn't even name.

"Are you an assassin?" Link wondered.

"Don't be ridiculous, Link," Zelda replied hid a pair of long, thin blades up the sleeves of her shirt. "All this is solely for self-defence."

"All of it?" Link said incredulously, picking up a dart for examination. "Really?"

"Don't touch that, it's poisoned!"

Link dropped the dart and Zelda directed him the adjoining bathroom where he could wash his hands before he started frothing at the mouth. An adjoining bathroom that was bigger than his entire apartment. Link tried not to feel bitter about that. It wasn't her fault that she'd been born royal.

When Link returned from the bathroom Zelda was waiting by the door, with all her things packed in duffel bag in what seemed to be her favourite colour: navy blue. She was carrying her bow over her shoulder and her crossbow on her back. Nevertheless, if Link hadn't seen with his own eyes the number of knives she had stashed in her clothes he would never have guessed that she was armed to the teeth.

"That was fast," Link said. "I thought women were supposed to take forever to get dressed."

Zelda just laughed. "Let's turn on the TV, shall we?" Zelda suggested. Without waiting for Link to answer she rummaged in the drawer of her nightstand and retrieved a remote which she used to switch on the flat-screen television on the opposite wall. Link took a seat on her sofa as she flipped to a news channel. It was pink and very fluffy.

The news was broadcasting an aerial shot of Kakariko. And from the looks of things everything was going to hell. Link could make out at least two hundred re-dead limping along in Kakariko Square. Link felt a lump in his throat. If there were even that many re-deads in the city then Kakariko was already done for.

"As you can see there are now literally dozens, if not hundreds, of these monsters wandering around Kakariko Square," a voice said over the whipping sound of the helicopter blades. "The military has ordered that all residents of Kakariko evacuate the city immediately but with all this traffic on the highway many people have decided to abandon their cars and take the risk of walking or are just remaining in their homes."

The video cut to two men, sitting at a long curved table. One of the usual reporters who looked more harried and unkempt than normal and a man in a white lab coat.

"We're here now with Dr. Howell, who has had a chance to study these monsters up close," the reporter said. "What can you tell us about this outbreak, doctor?"

"Well…" the doctor said, painfully slowly. "Eyewitnesses report that the first victim or 'Patient Zero', as we like to say in the business, was an elderly resident who recently died in the cancer ward of King Godfrey II Memorial Hospital in Kakariko. We're not really sure how he got it, since most of the other victims were infected after they were bitten but I don't really see how it matters now. Currently, the only viable method we've discovered of dealing with these creatures them is either by removing the head or destroying the brain."

The interviewer blinked. "But of course, you'd like to remind the public that these creatures are highly dangerous and should be avoided at all costs, right?"

"Avoid? It's a bit too late for that. You should probably just go throw yourselves at them and save them the trouble of running you down," Dr. Howell said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "Head-first, of course. That way they can eat the head and neck area first which will make the entire process a lot shorter than it needs to be."

"This is no time for jokes, Doctor! This is a crisis! A national emergency!"

The good doctor only shrugged.

"Why is he acting like that?" Zelda wondered. "Doesn't he care?"

Link was about to shake his head when he caught sight of the Dr. Howell's red-rimmed eyes and the realisation hit him. "He's turning!" he shouted, pointing at the screen.

As soon as the words left his mouth the scientist seemed to snap, lunging at his interviewer across the small gap between their chairs as the last vestiges of his humanity evaporated. The interviewer tried to dodge but Dr. Howell tackled him and sank his teeth into the man's neck before he could escape. Pandemonium erupted on the set as the film crew attempted to pry formerly-Howell off the interviewer who was now lying limply in his chair with tears running down his face, dripping onto the blood stained collar of his once pristine white shirt. The cameras cut away to two anchors just as formerly-Howell sank his teeth into one of the other crewmembers who had been hitting him in the head with a boom mic and yanked his arm off.

The two anchors sat at their desk with matching looks of horror on their faces. One of them marshalled her courage and shuffled her papers loudly. "We apologise for that, folks, we seem to be having some…" she hesitated. "Technical difficulties. I—"

The second anchor got up, knocking his chair to the ground. "Cut to commercial," he said. He turned his head as someone off-screen tried to tell him something. "I don't care! Cut to commercial goddess-dammit!" he shouted and stormed off the set. Everything cut to black for a moment before a commercial for laundry detergent flashed onscreen.

Zelda turned to him, her face as pale and drawn as he knew his was. "We can't stay in Castle Town," she said, "If the Plague is spreading that fast it's only a matter of time before we're trapped here."

Link nodded. "Do we have a plan?"

"We?" Zelda asked.

"Well, of course, princess" Link said indignantly. "You think I'd just leave you to fight your way across an undead wasteland?"

Zelda seemed to ponder that for a moment before asking, "Do you have a map?"

Link shrugged off his backpack and after rummaging in it for a while and pulled out a map of Hyrule a pen. Zelda accepted them graciously and cleared all the makeup and cosmetics from her vanity with a single swipe, spreading the map out in their place.

"This is where we are," Zelda said, drawing a circle around Castle Town and then another around Kakariko. "Kakariko is here to the south-east and we know that it's infected and possibly overrun by re-deads."

"Don't forget the ones we met in east Castle Town," Link pointed out.

"Right," Zelda said. "So assuming that a new strain of the Plague hasn't broken out in Castle Town we can infer that it's moving west from Kakariko so no matter what, going east is out of the question." She drew a third circle. "During an emergency the Royal Family and the castle staff are evacuated to the Red Fortress in in the Gerudo Desert which is where we're going, hopefully to wait until this entire 'walking dead' debacle blows over. And it's in the west so if we're lucky we can beat the spread of the Plague there."

"But first we'll swing by the hospital to warn everybody about the Plague, right?" he pressed.

"Yes, of course. I'll simply suggest that the people with injuries from attacks by animals and other humans be put in quarantine until further notice," Zelda said, uncertain of how she would accomplish the feat. "Is that satisfactory?"

"That sounds fine," Link nodded. "Anyway, I've got enough canned food and stuff in the truck to last us both till Westcastle. I guess we can look for more food there." He looked up and saw Zelda smiling cheekily. "Huh? What's up? Is there something on my face?"

"Canned food? You keep canned food in your truck?" Zelda said, her voice inexplicably full mirth. "That sounds a bit paranoid, don't you think?"

"Hey, you're not paranoid if you turn out to be right. And I don't have to take that kind of talk from a girl who probably owns a bazooka," Link said, giving Zelda a playful shove.

Zelda laughed, the first genuine laugh he had heard out of her, and shoved him back but he must have shoved him harder than she meant to because he went reeling and nearly tripped over an ottoman that had just been sitting there minding its own business.

"Why did you come to the castle?" she asked suddenly, a peculiar expression suffusing across her features. "And don't you dare try to tell me it was destiny."

Link gave her a crooked smile. "Well actually…" he began to say when he suddenly jolted upright. "Oh!"

"What? What's happened?" Zelda asked, instantly on the alert as well.

Link shushed her. "The castle might not be safe," Link admitted through gritted teeth. "The reason I came here this morning was because one of the castle staff came in from Kakariko. Injured."

"Link!" Zelda cried, instantly understanding the meaning behind his words. "How could you overlook something so crucial?"

"I forgot, okay?" Link hissed. "It's been a busy day!"

Zelda bit her lip and her eyes flitted to the window, a pretty piece made up of several tinted diamond-shaped panes fitted together. "What if there's re-deads out there?" she whispered.

Link gulped. "I'll check," he offered, cautiously approaching the window. The coloured panes distorted the view so much that he was forced to open it up to take a look outside but luckily they were on the third floor otherwise he wouldn't have dared. His heart sunk when he glimpsed what was in the courtyard: dozens of re-deads, milling around, growling and bumping into each other. Many of them looked like were once castle staff but a few of them were just regular people who must have wandered in via the still-lowered drawbridge. One of them spotted him and shuffled over, clawing at the wall as it was going to climb to climb up and get at him and the others, sensing a meal, followed. Link shut the window on their paralysing screams.

"You wouldn't happen to have that bazooka on hand would you?" he said.

"How many are there?" Zelda said flatly.

"There must be like four dozen of them out there."

Zelda sighed loudly. "Well, I guess it's a good thing that we're in here then," she remarked. "But do you think we'll be able to get out anytime soon?"

"By daybreak, I reckon," Link said with a shrug. "They get more active at night."

"I see," Zelda said pensively, tucking her feet up under her. "Well I'm sure you must be tired. Would you like a room, Link? There are plenty of guest rooms available if you'd like."

"What about you?" he asked.

"Me?" Zelda said. "You shouldn't worry about me; I can look after myself well enough. My whole life was leading up to this moment, it seems. The guest bedrooms are a bit far away but there's a spare room just down the hall from this one. I hope you find it to your liking."

Link blinked stupidly for a moment. Just like the Abbotts' perfectly prim kitchen something about Zelda's politeness seemed out of place and jarring in their current situation. Comfort was the last thing on his mind with a horde of flesh-eating monsters prowling the courtyard nearby yet he made an effort to return the gesture. Everyone had different ways of dealing with things, he supposed. He said thank you and left, closing the door noiselessly behind him. He followed Zelda's instructions directly, not stopping to listen to the sound of her quiet sobs through the wall.


	4. The Importance of Wearing a Seatbelt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aha, A new foe has appeared! Please everybody, put your hands together for Malon! [audience cheers]
> 
> Anyway, I'm not really sure that cars go airborne so easily or that the effects of blood poisoning can set in so quickly but if I didn't write it like that I would have been here describing the cast doing exciting things like eating baked beans, picking their noses and going to the bathroom for 5000+ words until something interesting happened so I hope you'll forgive me for taking some artistic license with the natural sciences. Unless you were actually looking forward to a 5000+ word description of the characters eating baked beans, picking their noses and going to the bathroom in which case I'm very sorry but I can't say I'll try to do better next time.
> 
> As an aside, in Hyrule they drive on the left. You know, in case you were wondering.

Zelda woke up at the crack of dawn, as usual. It wasn't until she sat up and noticed that she had slept in all her gear and that her bag was lying at the foot of her bed, packed and ready to go that she remembered the events of the previous day. She had slept so comfortably despite the overabundance of knives about her person that the previous day's happenings had almost seemed like a dream. She had hoped it _was_ a dream.

_My name is Zelda. I am Princess of Hyrule. My country is being attacked by undead monsters and my parents are missing. I am going to kill all those monsters and go meet them._

A sharp knock on the door snapped her out of her reverie. Out of habit she turned in her chair and asked, "Who is it?"

"Morning, Princess!" Zelda's voice chimed, somewhat muffled by the door. "It's Link! You decent?"

"Come in, the door's open!" Zelda called.

Link eased the door open and slipped into the room cautiously like he was expecting some kind of danger and his body visibly relaxed when he didn't find it. Despite the fact that he can come to wake her up there was still an air of sleepiness around him that told her he wasn't used to waking up at this hour. His clothes were wrinkled and disorderly and his strawberry blonde hair was in total disarray, with big patches of it sticking out in all directions. He furtively tried to smooth it down when he noticed her looking at it.

"So…" Link said, standing up on his toes. "How did you sleep?"

"I slept well, thank you," Zelda replied, although her sleep had been fitful and full of nightmares. "And you?"

"It was weird," Link said. "Your bed's so soft it's like sleeping on a cloud. I never had anything like that, even back home."

Zelda laughed and hopped out of her bed and Link quickly turned around, probably assuming that she would be in some sort of nightgown. She was wearing no such thing, of course. Acutely aware that circumstances might force them to flee the castle suddenly in the middle of the night she had made sure that she was dressed for such an event when she went to sleep. As a result she hadn't bothered to take off the dark blue cargo pants and long sleeves shirt she had been wearing the previous night. Not even her boots. Sleeping with all those knives in her clothes hadn't been comfortable but she didn't dare take them off, if push came to shove she didn't want to be running around Hyrule unarmed and in her negligee.

"You can turn around, you know," Zelda joked. "I'm not naked or anything."

"Oh man, what a relief. Sure would have hated to see that." Link said sarcastically. "Disappointment aside we should probably get going, we're burning daylight."

He turned and headed back into the hall without waiting for her, although he did briefly glance over his shoulder to see if she was following him. Zelda grabbed the duffel bag full of her clothes and weapons and followed him through the door, jogging to catch up with him. Although Link was doing his best to appear confident, probably for her sake, it was clear by the way his eyes were constantly darting about that he still had no idea where to go and she took the lead to save time.

They descended a huge staircase together before Zelda pointed at the huge, heavy doors that separated the different wings of the castle and Link obligingly braced himself against it, pushed it open and then recoiled in horror. The entire courtyard was packed with re-deads that all looked up from whatever they were doing, alerted by the creaking sound of the opening door. Out of the corner of her eye Zelda noticed Link tightening his grip on his bat although even she knew that there were far too many re-deads to fight. Her only consolation was that the mob was mostly made up of servants and guards, her parents were not among them.

"Link," Zelda whispered, tightening a hand around his arm. "Don't move. Don't move a muscle. We'll just go back the way we came, alright?"

Link nodded imperceptibly and allowed Zelda to inch him backwards through the doorway they had entered. The re-deads were staring at them with their vacant red eyes, apparently unsure of whether Link and Zelda were viable meals. Their heads slowly tilted to the side like confused dogs in one collective, unsettling motion.

The second Zelda put her hand on the door the re-deads seemed to snap out of their stupor and charged them. She bolted, yanking Link through the door and pushing it closed before the re-deads could get to them. She heard the noise of bodies colliding with the door and some of them screamed at her as they pounded on it from the other side but it didn't seem to have any effect on her through the heavy wood.

"Will that hold them?" Zelda panted, shivering as she slid the door's heavy crossbar into place.

"Maybe," Link said. "We need to get out of here. Is there another way to the front door?"

"Of course there is," Zelda said. "But it's a long walk and we'll have to backtrack and go around."

Link shrugged which Zelda had come to take as a 'yes' from him so she turned and began to guide Link back the way they'd come through the halls that would lead them to the west wing. Link hardly spoke to her for the majority of the walk but she tried not to let it offend her. It seemed to her that Link could only be either talkative and cheeky or completely silent with no in between. Unfortunately he always seemed to be in the opposite mood to the one she wanted him to be in; his voice would have greatly alleviated some of the tension in their present situation.

Instead she occupied herself observing the paintings that lined the walls at odd intervals. Most of them were just artwork, paintings of scenery, animals and some abstracts as well but a few were portraits of her ancestors and even fewer were of the previous queens. All of them bore a striking resemblance to each other although their features were all different, perhaps because they all had the same aquiline nose that she did. Link was looking at the paintings as well and his eyes lingered in particular on an impressionist painting of a green man, sword drawn, atop a rearing horse. For a moment he looked like he might stop ask about it but in the end he chose to ignore it and forged on with her.

At last they arrived at a second giant door, the twin of the one they had met on the other end of the castle. Zelda took it upon herself to open it herself and peeped through it and, once content that there was no-one, undead or otherwise, lingering in the courtyard she eased it open further and waved Link over. Link's van was still parked near the door the same as it had been the previous day. Link checked all around it for re-dead's before finally declaring it safe.

"Here, Take these," he said, holding out his keys to her. "You can drive for now while I gear up."

"Gear up?" Zelda wondered aloud but Link ignored her and climbed into the passenger seat, leaving her no choice but to hop into the driver's side.

Zelda waited for Link to fetch a black garbage bag that was crammed under the back seat and dump its contents out on his lap before she went to start the car but before she could do anything a re-dead rushed from the bushes and dove onto the hood of the pickup truck causing Zelda to scream in panic and hit a switch at random. She and Link watched with a mixture of amusement and horror as the windshield wipers engaged and whacked the re-dead in the face which only seemed to irritate it more as it let out a guttural snarl and started pounding on the glass with renewed verve.

"Drive, Zelda, drive!" Link cried, noticing a crack appear in the windshield. "Floor it!"

Zelda floored it, sending the van lurching forward in a cloud of burning rubber. It careened around the corner, across the drawbridge and out onto the street like something from an action movie. Zelda spun the wheel and swerved to avoid the honking cars that went screaming past causing the guard's face hit the windshield with an impressive _thunk_ that spider-webbed the glass. Seemingly frustrated by the re-dead that was obscuring her view Zelda slammed her foot on the brake causing him to lose his hold and cartwheel over the vehicle's bonnet and into the road, jaws still snapping at them as he flipped away.

Link sighed loudly and then, without warning, Link proceeded to whip his shirt off over his head. Zelda let out a little squeak and nearly stepped on the brake in her surprise.

"Hey," Link chided, the cheeky grin he had given her in the courtyard the day before making its reappearance. "Eyes on the road."

"Very funny, Link," Zelda said. "Who wants to look at your noodle arms anyway?"

It was another one of her terrible lies. Link might not be the tall hulking sort but he certainly wasn't puny either and she found that her eyes kept drifting back to him even as she put concerted effort into keeping her eyes on the road. If Link noticed he declined to comment on it, instead focusing his attention on donning a shirt of white leather armour, the type one often saw being worn by motorcycle racers. He put the armour on over a plain white t-shirt and then threw his old green t-shirt on over it while Zelda looked curiously in the corner of her eye.

As Zelda turned off the wide streets that surrounded Hyrule Castle she noticed, to her surprise, there were already several re-deads around. Some of them were shuffling about on the street or on the pavement, groaning absently at the cars that whizzed past them. Here and there they were picking through the wreckage of cars that had collided with the scenery or each other, probably looking for an easy meal. Link was looking at them unhappily. Zelda knew what he was thinking, he was wondering how he could have saved them.

"Link," she put a soothing hand on his shoulder. "There was nothing you could have done, alright? We were trapped."

Link nodded but his hands were balled up so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. Zelda decided that it might be better to let sleeping dogs lie and left him to it, focusing on the road rather than Link's guilty expression.

When they finally arrived at the highway that would lead them away from Castle Town Zelda's heart immediately sank. The entire highway was packed with cars, leaving her hardly any room to drive. Apparently they weren't the only ones who'd had the brilliant idea of escaping the city.

"Maybe we can push them out of the way?" Zelda asked. The truck was certainly big enough for the job.

"Maybe some," Link frowned. "I'll have to get out and move some of them out of the way myself. The keys are probably still in the cars."

Zelda gaped when Link unbuckled his seatbelt and went to open the door to let himself out. "You can't!" she said, grabbing onto his arm.

"Why not?" Link asked, looking at her hand on his arm with a bemused expression.

"What if…" she bit her lip. "What if there's re-deads out there?"

"That's why I've got this, see? And I'm not wearing all this armour for nothing," Link said, reaching for one of his bats and showing it to her. "You can cover me with your bow if you're so worried; just don't shoot me in the back, okay?"

Zelda chewed her cheek but she couldn't find any real flaws in Link's plan. They needed the cars moved and even if she wanted to take Link's place he had no idea how to shoot a bow. Link hopped out of the van and wandered into the crush of vehicles without waiting for her consent anyway. Zelda hurriedly released the crossbow from its harness on her back and armed it, holding it at the ready in one hand while she gripped the steering wheel in the other hand.

Link approached the first vehicle, a shiny red sports car with a custom paint job. She could only imagine how loathe to leave it behind its original owner had been. Link gave her an excited thumbs up and wagged his eyebrows at her before he approached the car, getting down on his hands and knees to check under it and then peeking into both the front and back windows before opening the door and climbing in. Zelda made a careful mental note of his process so she would know what to do if her turn came as Link started the car, turned and ploughed into the nearest car, pushing it to the side of the road and Zelda inched forward into its spot.

Link approached the cars and checked them carefully for re-deads, although none had decided to put in an appearance so far, occasionally cracking the windows with his bat if they were too dark to see through and moving the car out of the way so that Zelda would have space to move. A stretch of the highway that would normally have taken half an hour to clear was now taking upwards of four hours. Afternoon was rapidly approaching and to say that Zelda was growing tired and frustrated was a severe understatement. Her hand had a terrible cramp in it from keeping her finger poised on the crossbow's trigger but she didn't dare relax in case Link was attacked and she was a fraction of a second too late.

Link broke the window of a car with darkly tinted glass and a shrill scream split the silence. Link yelped and jumped backwards away from the car, accidentally colliding with the tail end of the black sedan that was parked behind him. Zelda sprang into action, pointing her crossbow at the now vacant window. She knew it couldn't be a re-dead because she was at fairly close range and she hadn't been paralysed by the scream but that didn't mean that they were safe.

"Who is it?" she asked, careful not to shout and draw any re-deads in the area to their location.

"It's a girl," Link said quietly.

Zelda focused her vision and saw that there was, in fact a girl about their own age huddled in the drivers' seat of the car. Even in the near darkness of the car's insides she could make out her flaming red hair. She opened her door, jumped from the van and cautiously approached, curious about what was going on.

"Want to come out?" Link asked her gently. "It's safe out here."

The girl twisted her mouth as she considered Link's offer before hesitantly going to open her door and then, finding that the car on that side was too close for her to open it, crawled into the passenger seat and emerged from the vehicle. Link raised his eyebrows at her. He had good reason to; even Zelda was willing to admit that the girl was gorgeous, although she felt embarrassed for noticing a trivial thing like that in the middle of their current situation.

The girl tucked a lock of her long red hair behind her ear. "I'm Malon," she said, extending her hand to Link.

Link seized the proffered hand and shook it with unexpected gusto. "Hey Malon," he said. "I'm Link."

"And I'm Zelda," Zelda said, once Link had been persuaded to release his near vice grip on Malon's hand. "So, Miss Malon."

"You don't need to call me 'Miss'," Malon said, waving the formality away. "Just 'Malon' is fine."

"Oh, alright," Zelda said, feeling awkward. She hadn't quite gotten used to calling people she had just met by their first names. "So…Malon," she nearly choked on the word. "What were you doing on the highway?"

"I was trying to get away from Castle Town, same as you guys," Malon said with a sigh. "When my dad heard about the outbreak in Kakariko he called me home from college so I could hide out with him on the ranch but my truck I got stuck in the traffic."

"You live on a ranch?" Link wondered aloud.

Zelda ignored him. "Why are you still here then?" she asked. "Everyone else seems to have decided they could escape better on foot."

"Oh, that," Malon said, her face going as red as her hair. "I fell asleep."

"You must be a heavy sleeper," Zelda remarked.

"You should get a load of my dad," Malon said with a laugh. "One time we were pulling down an old barn and he'd gone and sneaked off and fell asleep inside. We would've pulled the roof down on his head if one of the ranch hands hadn't noticed he'd left and gone off to look for him!"

Zelda managed a laugh at that. Link laughed louder than was necessary. "I can give you a ride," Link offered. "Back to your ranch, I mean. If you want to come with us."

"Really?" Malon said. "That's so nice of you guys. But I don't want to make you guys go out of your way or anything. The ranch is a ways off, it's in the middle of Hyrule field."

"We'd be happy to," Zelda said, less-than-genially. "Besides, I don't think you could get to the ranch on foot. Especially not now."

That was apparently all the coaxing that she needed because she agreed to join them and Link and Zelda helped her move all her bags from her own car to the tray of the van. Link and Malon stayed on the road and moved the cars so that Zelda could pass and they progressed quite a bit faster than before with the added help. Finally, they reached a point where the traffic tapered off enough for her to drive freely and Link and Malon returned to the van. Malon climbed into the back seat, declining the offer of a hand-up from Link and Link, to Zelda's surprise, jumped into the passenger seat although he continued to chatter away with Malon. So far Link seemed determined to laugh at every single thing Malon said, which annoyed Zelda to no end and confused Malon.

After a while of stewing in silence Zelda finally decided that she ought to contribute to the conversation. Although she admittedly felt a bit envious of the attention Link was paying to her she did realise that Malon seemed like a perfectly nice girl and she was determined to be civil to her. She opened her mouth to speak but instead of words an involuntary gasp fell out. Link and Malon both turned to inquire of her what was wrong and both lapsed into dead silence when they caught sight of what she was looking at.

The entire highway ahead was so totally filled with zombies that it was no wonder they hadn't met any while trying to navigate the maze of cars. Most of them were just shuffling awkwardly about with no real purpose or were just standing there looking up at the sky with their mouths hanging open like turkeys. Zelda also spotted a few of them picking over the carcasses of humans and animals that lay crumpled at the side of the road as well as a couple legless ones were dragging themselves across the tarmac and snarling. Whether their legs had been removed prior to or following their death and subsequent re-animation was a mystery.

"That's a lot of re-deads," Link said, the sight had thankfully cured him of his inane laughing spells. The tight set of his jaw was the closest Zelda had seen him to showing real fear.

"It most certainly is. Perhaps it's a good thing you fell asleep in the car, Malon," Zelda joked.

No-one laughed.

"What do we do?" Malon worried, her blue eyes the size of saucers. "Can we even get past that?"

"Of course we can, no worries," Link said. His hand gripped Zelda's leg. "Just drive past them. If they get in your way, run them over but don't just hit 'em willy-nilly."

Zelda nodded and gunned the engine in preparation to tear a path through the horde. If there was one thing she had definitely succeeded at so far, it was running over re-deads. Suddenly a re-dead leapt at them from Link's side with a feral snarl, its face landing on the window with a wet smack. Startled, Zelda sped off and the re-dead pitched to one side and cracked its head against the ground but Zelda didn't have time to look at it. She swerved from side to side, trying to avoid hitting the re-deads head on. Running over them was one thing but hitting them would eventually damage the van and the last thing she wanted was to put their mode of transport out of commission. Unfortunately, the sharp turns were making her lose control of the vehicle but when she slowed down to get more control the re-deads nearby would try latch onto the van's sides.

Link shouted when Zelda hit one head on that managed to attach itself to the bonnet and began pawing at the already-damaged windshield, licking and drooling all over the glass. He snatched up his bat and moved as though to break the windshield to get at him but Zelda stopped him.

"Are you crazy?" she shouted, already taxed with the effort of having to control the vehicle. "Don't break the glass, you'll let it in!"

"Well then do something about it!" Link shot back.

Zelda pulled on the steering wheel, causing the van car to spin entirely out of control. The re-dead lost its grip on the vehicle and landed on its head in a ditch off to the side of the highway just as the van collided with a roadside barrier. The barrier creaked in protest and crumpled, sending a piece of metal through the door that managed to spear Zelda in the side and tearing off both her door and Malon's before the she could clear it.

"My door!" Link cried.

Zelda ignored him, as well as the burning pain that was lancing through her side in order to focus on the road. Both of them were only minor annoyances as far as she was concerned. The two missing doors only gave the re-deads they passed additional places to latch onto and some of them were even trying to grab onto her and Malon as they sped by. Luckily, Malon had the good sense to back away and lean against the intact door for safety and allowed Link to take up the position instead where he happily bashed any re-deads that tried to get too close.

"Exit up ahead!" Link, shouted, pointing to a sloped exit that thankfully led away from the highway.

The wheel of the van hit and then ricocheted off the centre divider and, in a stroke of utterly miserable luck, flipped itself into the air. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as the van went airborne and Zelda could clearly make out the expression of total bewilderment on Link's face as he was thrown straight out of his seat and lost his grip on the bat. Malon looked equally alarmed, although Zelda noted with relief that the jump had jerked her foot out of the reach of a re-dead who had decided to take a snap at her as she passed by, oblivious to the flying car. The little bits of trash that populated the floor of the van were tumbling through the air along with a few choice items like their canned provisions and some of Links' bats.

The van's wheels hit the ground with a jolt that snapped Zelda back to reality. The smoke was pouring out of the van's bonnet and it was so thick that it totally obscured her vision through the windshield but she managed to urge it down the ramp before it coughed, spluttered and gave out entirely.

"Is everybody still alive?" Malon's voice called.

"Yes, I'm alive," Zelda replied.

Link only coughed in response as all three of them rolled out of the van bearing scratches and bruises but ultimately no worse for wear and trying their best to wave away the smoky air. Zelda noticed a few of the re-deads attempting to follow them down the ramp, giving chase at a brisk undead shuffle. One of the legless ones was among them, making an undue amount of noise as it attempted to claw its way over to them. She raised her crossbow and shot them in the head.

The neighbourhood they had arrived in was little more than a glorified pit stop. There was an empty gas station, flanked on either side by convenience stores and further down the road there was an auto shop, a motel and a few houses but there was nothing else of note. Zelda eyed the darkened convenience stores anxiously. Popping into the convenience store for snack cakes and fizzy drinks seemed very tempting but the idea of facing whatever was lurking there in the dark seemed less so. Just as she was about to suggest the idea to Link and Malon, Malon gasped and pointed at her side.

"Zelda, look!" she cried.

Zelda looked down, wondering what Malon was talking about. In the excitement she'd almost forgotten about the stray bit of metal that had nearly carved her open but now the evidence was there for all to see, a dark red stain blooming through the fabric of her shirt.

"Let me have a look at it," Malon offered at once. "I know a thing or two about injuries."

Zelda swallowed and raised her shirt to allow Malon to check on it. The wound didn't seem very deep to her untrained eye but what if the metal had punctured a lung or some other vital organ? Without quick access to proper medical care her cuccoo would most certainly be cooked. Thankfully Malon took one look at it and pronounced that the wound was only superficial.

"How do you know that?" Link asked.

"No biggie, it's my major," Malon said. "I'm training to be a doctor. Well a vet. I've been taking care of the cows and horses since I was a little kid. Example: sometimes, when the cows and stuff had trouble giving birth I'd have to stick my hand right up their –" She stopped when Zelda's eyes went wide and she let out a little squeak of horror. "Sorry. Too much information, right?"

"Maybe just a smidge," Zelda answered weakly.

Link laughed at her. "Don't mind her," he said. "Zelda here is a total city girl."

"And you're not?"

"Oh yes Link," Zelda said acrimoniously. "Why don't you tell us _all_ _about_ where you're from? I'm sure the details of that story that would be quite _arresting_ , don't you Malon?"

Malon looked anxiously between the two of them, confusion clear in her expression. "Um…is something up?" she said.

Link turned away for her and folded his arms. "Ask her," he said childishly.

"Let's do this another time," Malon said, sounding annoyed. "Zelda needs medical attention for her wound right now or it might get infected."

"It's no big deal," Link said. "Some blue potion'll fix that right up,"

"And what if we can find it?" Zelda shot back. "There's been a shortage of the ingredients."

"This looks like a red-potion job anyway," Link said with a shrug

"Do you see a pharmacy around here Link?" Zelda spat.

"Well if someone hadn't totalled my van, maybe we could drive to one!"

"I was saving our lives!"

Malon, who had apparently had enough of their arguing, decided to step in at that point, inserting herself between the two of them. "If you guys can't stop arguing I'm gonna bash your heads together like coconuts," she warned.

Zelda, although still angry, immediately quieted down but Link appeared thoroughly chastened and looked down at his boots. Malon, satisfied with her handiwork, gave them the go-ahead to continue talking but didn't move from her spot.

"There were lots of cars on the highway," Link said, somewhat sheepishly. Zelda realised that he was trying his best to smooth things over and decided to accept the olive branch she was being offered. She didn't want to be arguing with him for the entire journey to the desert.

"We can't go back for them, though," Zelda said. "There's so many re-deads on the road there's no way we could make it through."

"Looks like we've got no choice then," Malon said. "We'll clean the wound and then stitch it closed to keep it from getting worse while we find her some medicine."

Zelda paled. "St…stitch it, you say?"

Malon and Link both ignored her obvious discomfort and continued talking about her like she wasn't there. "Good idea," Link said sagely. "The smell of blood might attract more monsters anyway."

"Right. Let's find somewhere for her to rest. Will you get me the first aid kit from my black bag?" she asked.

Link nodded and began to rummage about in her backpack while Malon cautiously approached Zelda as though she was a frightened animal who was likely to bolt at any time. Her assessment was not too far off. Zelda watched with bated breath as Link handed Malon a soft red pouch from which she withdrew a small bottle of golden liquid.

"Is that whiskey?" Zelda asked incredulously.

"It is as a matter of fact," Malon said, pointedly ignoring Link and Zelda's matching amused expressions. "It helps to clean the wound."

"Oh," Zelda said, moving to raising her shirt so that Malon could apply the alcohol to the wound.

"Wait," Malon said, holding out the bottle. "You might want to drink some first. It might help with the pain a bit."

"Oh," Zelda repeated. "Okay."

She accepted the proffered bottle and, abandoning all sense of decorum, chugged some of the liquor. The whiskey tasted awful and it scorched her all the way down but, not wanting to make a scene and attract the scorn of her travel companions she simply ignored it, wiped her mouth and returned the bottle to Malon.

"How is it?" Link asked. Zelda thought she heard a hint of teasing in his tone, probably due to the ridiculous expression she was most likely making.

"Fine thanks," she said primly. "Thank you for asking."

"How about over there?" Link said, pointing at the building about two blocks away with an aluminium rolling door. "That looks secure."

"The auto repair shop?" Zelda said incredulously.

"Yeah," Link insisted. "We might be able to find a car we can use there!"

"I hardly think that an auto repair shop is the best place to obtain transportation," Zelda pointed out.

"Well I don't see any other cars around," Link said. "And it won't hurt to check. Besides, if we find one that there's not too much wrong with it I'll just fix it. I _am_ a mechanic."

Zelda shrugged and bowed her head, giving the others the green light. They hesitantly approached the auto-shop, Zelda's carefully sutured wound aching all the way. They found the auto-shop's door firmly locked but it posed no problem for Zelda who simply picked the lock and let them in. That earned her strange look from Malon but Link, who had seen her array of weapons didn't so much as bat an eyelid, instead suggesting that they spread out and search the auto-shop for re-deads. Only once the shop was pronounced clear, did they relax.

"You might want to sit down, Zelda," Malon said to her. "This will probably hurt a lot."

Zelda sat down on the auto-shop's cold floor and once again, raised her shirt to reveal the cut. The sight of the wound, all red and fleshy, made Zelda's stomach turn. Luckily, Malon didn't seem to think that it was anything out of the orderly and she calmly splashed the liquor on Zelda's side. The pain was immediate and Zelda wanted to cry out at the sensation but she simply pressed her lips together more tightly, clenched her fists and bore it in silence. Just when she thought she'd had the worst of it, Malon reopened the first-aid kit and retrieved a small needle and a length of thread, threaded it expertly and quickly went to work, piercing Zelda's side with the needle.

"So," Malon said in a voice that was disturbingly causal, given the situation. "Is Link your boyfriend or something?"

"My boyfriend?" Zelda struggled to say, ignoring the feeling of the needle and thread tugging at her flesh over and over. "No, of course not, I hardly know him! Why would you say something like that?"

Malon shrugged. "It's just like you two argue like an old married couple," she said.

"I see," Zelda said. "Are you interested in him?"

Malon paused for a long time before finally snipping the thread with her scissors. "Not really," she said and before Zelda could decide whether it was a lie or not she quickly added. "There, all done. Why don't you check it out."

Zelda looked down at her side. Where there had been a gaping, ugly wound before there was now a crooked red line and a row of neat black sutures. Malon had done her best to clean up the blood surrounding the area with her kerchief but for the most part had only achieved in spreading it around. Zelda didn't blame her; it would be foolish to squander what little water they had on something so trivial.

"How long until they can come out?" Zelda asked, attempting to get to her feet.

"A couple of weeks probably," Malon replied. "Please don't get up, you should be resting."

Zelda began to protest but Malon ignored her, leaving her mid-sentence to go outside with Link and bring in her bags as well as Link's ever-present backpack and the duffel bag containing Zelda's extra clothes and all her weapons. They laid them out in the corner of the room, although Malon supplied Zelda with one of her own smaller bags to use as a pillow since both Zelda's and Link's were much too full of pointy objects to provide much comfort.

Zelda lay down unhappily on her improvised pillow, closed her eyes and listened unhappily to the sound of Link and Malon's voices until she fell asleep.

* * *

When Zelda awoke she wasn't sure how long she'd been sleeping but she was sure she felt absolutely terrible. She had only ever been sick a handful of times in her life but if this was what being sick was like she wasn't interested in repeating the experience. She called to Malon for help.

"Is something wrong?" Malon inquired.

"How long have I been asleep?" Zelda asked, forgoing the question.

"Only about a day," Malon said. "You looked so tired that we let you sleep. How do you feel?"

"Terrible," Zelda answered weakly.

Malon's expression turned anxious. "Terrible? Like how?"

"I'm not sure," Zelda admitted, "Just terrible. It's like I have chills but I have a fever as well."

Malon immediately got on her knees and hurried to lift Zelda's shirt. Her reaction was nigh instantaneous, she gasped and backed away.

"What? What is it?" said Link, who had been observing their interaction. His gold eyes wide with panic. "What's wrong with her?"

Zelda summoned the strength to glance down at her side for herself and nearly recoiled in disgust. A distinct red stripe lanced up her side, starting at the wound she had gotten and disappearing under the hemline of her shirt but that was nothing compared to the wound itself. The skin surrounding the stitches was red, swollen and oozing as though it was rotting. Her eyelids began flutter rapidly as fear seized her but Link, noticing her distress, came to her side and calmed her, easing her head back down.

"It's blood poisoning, Link," Malon said quietly, but Zelda's sharp ears picked up every word of it.

"Okay so what can we do?"

"Blue potion," she said. "Blue potion will definitely fix it but if she doesn't get it very soon she'll probably die."

"Then we better get to work on that," Link replied.

"Where are we supposed to find blue potion?" Malon wondered. "We're in the middle of nowhere and Zelda said there was a shortage."

"The convenience store," Link said, snapping his fingers. "There's two convenience stores across the road. Maybe one of them has a pharmacy inside!"

"You can't go there," Zelda said. "It could be dangerous! What if there's re-deads in there? You could die!"

"If you don't get help, you _will_ die." Link countered.

"I couldn't ask you to sacrifice yourself for me," Zelda said quietly.

"What about your parents then? What about Hyrule?" Link said, pointing his bat accusingly at her. "Can I sacrifice myself for them? Besides, you don't get to decide if you're worth my sacrifice, that's my choice understand?"

Zelda, for once was speechless, and simply turned her head to the side to avoid Link's gaze. The silence that reigned in the next few moments was deafening but neither she nor Link seemed inclined to break it. At last, Malon took it upon herself to speak.

"Do you want me to come?" she said, looking somewhat confused by the exchange. _That's right, she still doesn't know who I am,_ Zelda remembered. She made a mental note to tell her. It seemed unjust to deceive someone who was so willing to help her.

"No, stay with Zelda," he said, still sounding miffed. "Don't let anything bad happen to her, okay?"

Malon bit her lip. "Okay."

Link picked up his backpack and slung it onto his shoulders before removing his favourite bat, the gleaming gold one with the purple grip, and giving it a few experimental swings to loosen his arm.

"I should be back soon," he said and then after a moment's hesitation added, "but if I'm not back by nightfall don't come looking for me. Take the car and go on without me."

Malon hesitated but eventually nodded her acquiesce. Zelda, however, was having none of it. "But Link—" she protested.

"No buts, it's for your own good!" Link returned. "Please promise me that you'll go. Don't give Malon any trouble."

"Link I—" she tried.

"Promise, Zelda!"

Zelda pressed her lips together. "I promise."

Link's shoulders relaxed noticeably after that. He gave the two of them a small smile then turned on his heel, eased the door open and departed from the shop in silence leaving Zelda feeling bereft, afraid and powerless to do anything about it.


	5. Butterfingers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Guys, I'm gonna level with you. I hate this chapter. I hate it. In all honesty, this chapter was never supposed to exist but a lot of things that I didn't write initially happened last chapter so then I had to rewrite this chapter to move the plot back in the direction it's supposed to go which is why it has weird things like the PoV of two different characters appearing in the same chapter. Lame. Shame on me.
> 
> On a brighter note, although I've been dropping hints about the nature of the story's plot (and yes it does have a plot. Bashing zombies can get old really fast) and fleetingly mentioning some key locations for the past few chapters, this is the last chapter that doesn't actually relate to the plot. I can hardly wait until next week so I can start to show you guys what I have in store!

Link left the auto shop and stalked out into the street in a thoroughly bad mood. In reality, he felt like absolute trash for shouting at Zelda but her utter disregard for her own wellbeing had frustrated him. Why couldn't she see that he was just trying to help her? Didn't she think he might care if she died?

Without thinking about it, he approached the sliding glass door of the convenience store closest to the auto shop, expecting to have to break it with his bat to get in, but to his surprise the door simply slid open on its own with a faint whooshing noise. If the door still worked then clearly the power to the area hadn't been cut yet, which he supposed was good, but it also meant that any number of re-deads could probably have shuffled in before his arrival, unimpeded by the herculean task of having to open a door which was definitely bad.

_I'll just have to be careful,_ he thought but as he stepped through the gaping door into the seemingly endless darkness beyond it he got the vague feeling that he was signing his own death warrant.

His gloomy thoughts were dispelled almost as soon as he entered. The natural light streaming through the glass door and windows threw the room into a sort of chiaroscuro, which Link quite frankly found unsettling, and illuminated row upon row of shelves and the dust motes dancing in the breeze.

Most of the shelves were totally empty except for packages of the sort dry, crumbly biscuits favoured by the elderly and those with no sense of taste. His grandmother Halila, goddesses rest her soul, had been both and she had absolutely adored them. Link always thought they were disgusting but he grabbed them regardless, stuffing them into his backpack and pockets. He was hardly in a position to turn down food, not even the dry crumbly sort, even if everyone else had.

The crinkling sound the packages made seemed deafening in the deadly silent atmosphere of the store which caused Link to pause mid-step. His head swivelled left and right, making sure that there were no re-deads in the store that had been alerted to his presence by the sound of the packaging but when nothing lunged at him from anywhere he decided that it was probably safe to continue his search. He riffled through several shelves of makeup, a rack of magazines and a self-serve kiosk of pastries. The lone soft pretzel left on the rack looked awfully tempting but he forced himself to leave it alone.

The back half of the store, though, was dedicated to medicines of various kinds but mostly band aids, cough syrup. Red and blue potions were heavy-duty stuff which meant that he would probably only find them at the dispensary, where pharmacists could police their distribution. Or at least they would have during the 'peacetimes' as Link had grown fond of referring to them. He was well aware of the fact that they had been literally three days ago but for some reason remembering that everything had gone wrong within the course of three days made his situation feel unreal. Three days ago he had been fast asleep in an, admittedly crummy, apartment but at least he had been safe and didn't have to worry about being dismembered and eaten. Now he was on the run again.

He spotted the dispensary tucked away at the back of the store but his path to the medicines was obstructed by a high counter that he could hardly see over. Since there was no pharmacist behind him to stop him from doing as he pleased he simply hoisted himself onto the counter and jumped over it, nearly landing directly in the clutches of the undead pharmacist lying on the ground behind it. Its spine was broken, preventing it from standing but its teeth still gnashed as it foamed at the mouth and its hands scrabbled around in an attempt to grab him like the legs of an overzealous spider.

The pharmacist attempted a paralysing shriek which, of course, had only a minimal effect on him and then went in for the kill, snapping furiously at Link's ankles as he hopped about to avoid it in the what must have been the most bizarre-looking dance known to man. Since the dispensary was contained in what was little more than what amounted a long, narrow booth he was left with little no room to swing his bat and deal with the troublesome re-dead pharmacist. It took some manoeuvring before he at last managed to line himself up with its head and he gave it a swift kick in the temple with his steel-toed boot.

The monster gave a loud groan of whatever the emotionless, undead version of pain was and then its arms dropped to its sides and it lay still. Dispatching the pharmacist had brought his re-dead killing streak up to lucky number seven, if he only counted the ones he was sure were dead and ones he had killed himself, with his own hands. The callousness with which he had killed the re-dead surprised him. It had been cold, efficient, almost clinical. And now here he was counting up his kills. It was surprising how quickly he'd gotten used to the carnage and the bloodshed. Re-deads weren't human anymore. He didn't think he could bring himself to kill a living human being.

Link sighed, shuddered and went about searching the shelves behind the counter. They had mostly been cleared out, most likely by the people who had evacuated from Castle Town early, but there were still many little bottles and boxes of different shapes and sizes. Some of them had unpronounceable, five-syllable names, some of them were totally useless and some of were just different kinds of pain killers. Seeing as Malon was trained in the medical field he supposed that she might be able to find a use for some of them so took them all for good measure.

In the corner of one shelf he found a little box of tiny red bottles and another box with a single blue one. His face brightened considerably. The little bottles were all full potion, albeit a super-concentrated form that was meant to be injected rather than drunk. Of course, Zelda hadn't exactly reacted well to the idea of being jabbed with needles the last time it had been suggested, but then again who was? Besides she had taken several stitches without anaesthesia and she was on the brink of death anyway, he hardly thought her misgivings would apply now.

As he left the store to return to the auto shop his thoughts were so focused on getting the medicine back to Zelda that he almost missed the large black sand rail that was parked out behind the convenience store. Almost.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" a female voice said from behind him.

Link whirled to face the two Gerudo women that had been lurking behind him, both wearing matching sinister, almost predatory, smiles and leading a dark-haired man in grey mottled military fatigues age between them, bound and gagged with copious amounts of duct tape. Link noted that they were both dressed for combat with various knives tucked into their trousers and twin sabres strapped to their waists although one of them was carrying a crossbow, which she had pointed right at him. Link was starting to notice that he seemed to be attracting heavily armed women lately. He wasn't sure what sort of signal he was putting out to get that sort of treatment.

"What are you doing here?" the woman without the crossbow demanded.

"Nothing," Link said, casually reaching for his bat. "What about you? You come here often?"

Unfortunately for him, the woman noticed the slight movement. "Woah, hold on there, guy," she said, wagging her finger at him. "Let's not do anything stupid. You don't want to make us do anything we'd regret now right?"

Link narrowed his eyes. "Is that a threat?" he asked.

"Mmmmph!" warned the prisoner, shaking his head vigorously. "Mmm-mmmph!"

"Quiet, you," the crossbow woman barked, savagely elbowing the man in the ribs. The man grunted and then fell silent, although his sharp blue eyes continued glare at the two women.

"No, of course not! I'd never threaten you," the first woman continued, smiling slyly. "It's just that my friend Amina here gets twitchy sometimes and accidents happen."

On cue, Amina fired a bolt from her crossbow that grazed Link's hand. Link jerked his hand away from the bat, bringing it to his face and examining the line of crimson that was welling up there. He gulped, she had to be a pretty good shot to pull something like that off.

"Whoops, sorry. I get butterfingers," the crossbow woman said, smiling apologetically but without a hint of remorse in her voice.

"That sounds serious," Link said cuttingly. "Maybe you should get that looked at."

"Oh ho ho, this one's got jokes," the first woman said. "Tell you what, kid I like you so I'll cut you a deal. You hand over your supplies and I promise not to take you in."

"Supplies?" Link said, taking a moment to think about it. The only things he had on him were. And then, of course, there were the syringes and the potions for Zelda but he would rather die than let them have those. "Sorry. Don't have any."

"Then what's in the backpack?" the woman demanded.

"Nothing! More bats and stuff!" Link insisted.

"You're lying," Amina snapped.

"Listen, I'm serious!" Link protested. "I lost my transport on the highway and all my stuff was in there. You can go and check if you feel like it."

"Maybe, he just needs a little motivation," the Amina said helpfully.

Slowly and deliberately, the woman drew one of the knives from the waistband of her trousers. The soft sound of the metal scraping against leather as the s-shaped knife slipped out of its sheath put Link's senses on red alert. "My thoughts exactly, Amina," she said as she began approached him.

Link gulped. His baseball bats might work well against re-deads but only because they were slow, stupid and pretty much incapable of performing defensive manoeuvres. He didn't like his chances in his present situation against two trained warriors, one of whom had a crossbow trained on him. Nevertheless, he snatched up his bat and adopted a fighting stance. If he managed to survive his present situation he would make sure to re-think his choice of weapon.

The women both looked at him with a cruel kind of mirth in their eyes. "Cut his lips off, Kadijah," Amina said eagerly. "That'll teach him to talk back."

Luckily for him, the prisoner seemed to decide he'd seen enough. He charged Amina, slamming his lowered shoulder into her chest and sending her flying and Amina let out a small cry of surprise and dropped her crossbow as she fell. Kadijah, who had been advancing on Link, turned, alerted by the compatriot's scream. Link head-butted her in the face while her attention was divided and sprinted away, not stopping to look back as the woman clutched her nose and shrieked. He felt a bit guilty for doing it, though, even though the two women would probably have killed him otherwise. It was the very definition of a cheap shot.

"Run!" Link shouted, as he sped past the women's erstwhile prisoner.

The man took his advice and ran after him. There weren't many places to go, as the only buildings left were the gas station, the other convenience store and the auto-shop. The auto shop, of course, was totally out of the question since he definitely didn't want to lead them back to where Zelda and Malon were waiting defenceless. Not that he himself was faring much better.

He made for the gas station and, finding the door to the bathroom still unlocked, waved the man in and jumped in behind him. The quarters were cramped, dirty and the smell was overpowering but at the very least they were safe and there was no need to check for re-deads.

"What was all that about?" Link wondered.

"Mmmm!" the prisoner shouted. "Mmmmph mmm mmmmmm!"

Link turned. "What?" Link asked.

" _Mmmmmm!_ " the prisoner replied, glaring at him.

"Oh, right, sorry," Link said, remembering that the man's mouth was covered with duct tape. "Okay how should I do this?"

"Mmm!" the man grunted.

"Alright, I'll just rip it off nice and quick like a band aid," Link explained, peeling away a small section of the tape to hold onto. "This is going to hurt. But I'm going to have to ask you to not make a sound."

The man gave a determined nod and Link took a firm hold of the bit off tape he had peeled off. In the split second before Link ripped off the tape he swore he saw a look of pure terror in the man's eyes but it was too late for him to change his mind now. Link yanked off the tape regardless. The man jumped backwards, squeezing his eyes shut and gritting his teeth in his effort not to make a noise.

"Sorry," Link said, rolling the tape into a ball between his hands.

"No, thanks for that," the man said, panting and taking huge gulps of air as he struggled to recover himself. Now that the tape that was covering half his face was gone Link could see that he was actually younger than he had previously assumed, about his own age. He sounded good-natured about the whole tape situation, although he was definitely watering around the eyes. "Good thing I didn't have any whiskers."

"Tell me about it," Link said, taking his bound hands and beginning to unwind the tape. "You have a name?"

"The name's Pipit," he replied. "M'friends call me Pip. You can call me Pip too."

"OK, Pipi…" Link began, correcting himself when he saw the chagrined look on Pipit's face. "Pip. Exactly where are we?"

Pipit shrugged. "Nowhere really," he said. "This place doesn't have a name; it's basically just a pit stop between Castle Town and Westcastle." He paused. "I hope you're not heading to Castle Town, though. I heard on the radio that it's been totally overrun."

"No, no, I'm coming from Castle Town. I'm carrying this girl I met to meet her parents in the desert and I'm taking this _other_ girl I met back to meet her dad on their ranch and after that…well I'm not sure what happens after that," Link explained.

"You sure meet a lot of girls," Pipit observed.

"Guess so," Link admitted. "We can't get anywhere because our van crashed on the highway which, by the way, is totally jam-packed with re-deads and cars and other unpleasantness so I don't think anyone's going anywhere anytime soon."

"Sounds rough," Pipit said.

"It is," Link replied with a frown. "So what about you, what are you in for?"

"Me? Nothing really, I'm a soldier up at Sky Keep," Pipit said with a shrug. Link nodded. That explained the unusual colour of fatigues, it was just snow camouflage. "I only came down the mountain on an errand but after the outbreak started up they closed up the mountain trail. It's impossible to get back up now, unless I decided to climb it but I'd probably freeze to death up there."

The word 'death' suddenly reminded Link of Zelda's delicate condition. At once, he moved to open the door of the restroom, hoping there was still enough time to get the medicine to Zelda and that she hadn't died while he was out socialising.

"Where do you think you're going?" Pipit asked.

"I have to get back to my friends," Link explained. "One of them's injured and if I don't get this medicine I have in my backpack to her she'll die."

Pipit's eyes widened. "Don't you think you should have mentioned that first?" he questioned.

"Yeah, probably," Link admitted. "But I really have to go."

"I can lend you a hand," he offered. "You go ahead and if anything bad happens, I'll cover you."

"Are you sure you're okay with that?" Link wondered. "I mean, you just met me."

"Well yeah," Pipit replied, "but you seem like a pretty decent guy and I bet you'd do the same for me, right?"

Link blinked at him. "Right."

"Great," Pipit said. "Now go on; it really stinks in here."

With a lopsided grin, Link eased the door open and cautiously poked his head out but the two women were nowhere to be seen which was part relieving and part unnerving. Just because he couldn't see them didn't mean they weren't still nearby or that they couldn't see him. Keeping a tight grip on his bat, he crouched down and attempted to cross the street only to see Kadijah step out from behind one of the convenience stores and directly into his path between him and the auto shop, legs spread apart and hands hovering over her weapons like an outlaw from an old western. A nasty smirk spread across her face.

"We're done playing games with you, kid," a voice said. Link turned to find Amina approaching him from behind, pointing her crossbow directly at him. "You've got ten seconds to hand over that backpack or else I'm going to shoot you in the throat. Don't think I won't do it."

"I would never think that," Link said truthfully.

"Ten…" Kadijah began, taking obvious pleasure in threatening him. "Nine…eight…seven…"

Thankfully for Link Pipit stayed true to his word and came to his rescue (again), sneaking up on Amina from behind and grabbing her in a chokehold. "I have a better idea," he said. "Why don't you and your little girlfriend hand over all _your_ supplies instead?"

Both women started at Pipit's sudden appearance and Amina accidentally fired her crossbow at Link in alarm but Pipit jogged his elbow, causing the shot to go wide. The bolt missed its mark but still managed to hit him in the arm, knocking him right off his feet. The pain was excruciating but it was still better than being shot in the throat.

"Link!" Pipit called. "Are you okay?"

"I'm alright," Link said, although he was far from alright. He tested the arrow by jiggling the shaft a bit which sent another bolt of pain lancing through his arm. "It's not in very deep."

Angry now, Kadijah began to advance on him with the clear intention of using him as a bargaining chip against Pipit but when she approached him Pipit tightened his hold on her compatriot threateningly. "Hey, I wouldn't get any closer if I were you!" Pipit warned. "I don't want to have to hurt anyone but I will, if I have to."

Kadijah froze and eyed Pipit with barely contained rage as Link slowly got to his feet, gritting his teeth against the agonising pain. Kadijah's eyes slid towards Pipit and then a wicked smile slid across her face. Link turned his head to follow her line of sight and gasped.

"Pipit, look out!" he cried.

Pipit turned to see what he was pointing at just in time to collect a devastating blow in the side of the head from a third woman who had previously escaped everyone's notice. He released his hold on the crossbow woman, reeling as he tried to collect his bearings but eventually all he could do was list to one side and land heavily on the hard ground.

"Pipit!" Link shouted and attempted to go to him but Amina intercepted him, punching him in the face so hard that he saw stars.

"That's for earlier," she said acrimoniously, her face swimming in Link's vision.

Someone else was speaking too but to Link their voice sounded like it was coming from very far away. "Take them to the base," it said just before he blacked out.

* * *

Malon paced restlessly, albeit quietly. She didn't want to wake Zelda, who was sleeping peacefully again in the corner of the room. Well, perhaps peaceful wasn't the correct word; she was lying still but every muscle in her body was pulled taut from the pain she was experiencing, even in sleep. It was a wonder she was able to sleep at all. Maybe she was just faking it.

_Where's Link?_ Malon wondered. _He should be back by now._

He had told them if he didn't return by nightfall that they should try to leave without him but she didn't think that was possible. Before she had fallen asleep, Zelda had told her that re-deads came out full force after dark so travelling at night was definitely out. Even if they waited until the next morning and travelled only during the day, Zelda wouldn't have the strength to go the distance they might need to walk to get help and that was if she wasn't dead by morning.

A sudden shuffling coming from the direction of the door drew her out of her thoughts. _Link!_ she thought, relieved.

The shuffling wasn't Link. As she approached a re-dead sat up from where it had been lying beneath a heap of cardboard boxes and lunged at her but Malon, threw herself to the ground to avoid it, letting out a little shriek of terror. Sadly, the re-dead decided to shriek as well. Malon had heard stories about the re-dead's scream before. She had heard it was so profoundly terrifying that it could root a person to the spot in fear, even as they were being torn limb from limb but the description paled in comparison. Malon didn't consider herself the cowardly sort but the re-dead's cry had a strange way of sucking every ounce of courage from her. Her limbs seized up as the re-dead advanced on her. She was not brave. She had never been brave. She was just a frightened girl who was going to die scared and wanting her father.

The noise suddenly stopped, cut short when Zelda herself interposed between her and the monster and stabbed a long, thin knife into its eye. The creature roared and attempted to make a grab for her but she simply rattled the blade inside its eye socket until its brain probably began to resemble cottage cheese and when she withdrew it, it let out a small whine and fell to the floor dead.

Malon, released from the re-dead's spell, fell backwards and landed on her backside, shaking and trembling. Her stomach was turning, as a consequence of the profound fear she had just experienced, she reckoned and she clamped her hand to her mouth to prevent herself from throwing up but Zelda, for her part, seemed mostly unperturbed by the re-dead and its subsequent brutal execution. She knelt beside the corpse which was now lying face down on the shiny linoleum, wiped the blackish, congealed blood and brain matter off on its shirt and put it back in her sleeve. Malon was speechless, partly because of her near brush with death and partly because of Zelda's miraculous return to health.

Zelda turned to Malon and knelt beside her. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I could ask you the same question," Malon replied. Unfortunately, Zelda hadn't actually returned to health and still looked terrible. She was on her feet, yes, and moving freely but her face was still drawn with pain and waxy with beads of sweat dotted her forehead. If Malon was in the mood to be poetic she would have said that Zelda resembled the re-dead she had just killed more than her own self. "How are you walking?"

"Well I'm not cured, unfortunately, if that's what you're hoping," Zelda said, seemingly reading Malon's mind. "It's a form of Sheikah magic. It numbs sensation and slows my bodily so that I can continue to fight for some time even if I'm in extreme pain." Then she added. "Or dying. But it comes at a cost."

Malon didn't quite like the sound of that. "What kind of a cost?"

Zelda didn't elaborate which worried Malon even further. "We should find Link," she said quickly. "He might be in danger."

"But Link said if he didn't return by nightfall that we should le—"

"I know what he said!" Zelda snapped.

Malon blinked at her, taken aback by her sharp tone. "I know what Link said," she said in a much gentler tone, "but if there's a chance that he's alive I can't just leave him. Besides we can't go on without him anyway, not without transportation! There's nothing but flat land for miles! He's just trying to be heroic and self-sacrificing or whatever."

"And that's not what you're doing right now by going after him?" Malon challenged.

Zelda frowned. "I'm going to find Link," she said with conviction. "You can come with me, if you like or you can stay here and wait for us to come back. I'd prefer if you came with me, though. I could always use another pair of eyes out there."

"How did you stop the scream from paralysing you?"

Zelda held her palm out to Malon, showing her a pair of ear plugs. "I used these," she explained. "I'm supposed to use them to protect my ears from explosions but since I've met re-deads before I thought something like this might be useful. You can have a pair if you like. I have more."

Malon graciously accepted the proffered earplugs, ignoring Zelda's curtness. She probably wasn't trying to be rude; the amount of energy she was probably expending to keep herself mobile while she was on the brink of death must have been monumental.

The two of them crept outside but as Malon went to step out into the street Zelda put up her hand to stop her. "I'd better go alone," she said, much to Malon's annoyance.

"Are you kidding? You can't go out there by yourself!" she protested. "You're sick! You could keel over at any moment!"

Zelda put a finger on her lip to shush her and shook her head disapprovingly. "Keep your voice down, there could be more where that came from," she whispered, jerking her head in the direction of the fallen re-dead. "I need you to be my eyes and ears. Stay here and hide, if anyone unfamiliar comes by whistle for me. Understand?"

"I understand," Malon said, reluctantly.

"Good. Stay safe, I'll be back soon," Zelda said. She turned her back on Malon and sneaked around the side of the auto shop and out of sight.

Zelda went to the nearest convenience store first since it was where Link had said he was going and it was where she was most likely to find a clue to his whereabouts. She paused a moment to consider the inky blackness beyond the door before deciding to press on but just as she was about enter the sliding glass door opened of its own accord. Zelda's breath caught in her throat and she darted around the corner of the shop just in time to avoid being spotted by the Gerudo woman who emerged from the store, carrying a full garbage bag over one shoulders.

"I'm back!" she called into the open air.

"Hey, where did you go?" she cried, throwing the bag to the floor. "Y'all are always doing this to me! This isn't funny!"

Zelda decided to go on the offensive and began to edge her way out from behind the building but apparently she had been spotted because the Gerudo drew a knife from her belt and came at her in one lightning fast movement. Zelda dodged the first stab and the second one but when the woman came in for a third she gripped her wrist and twisted it. The woman let out a little cry of surprise as she was forced to release the knife from her grip and tried to get her hands on another but Zelda was already on her, grabbing the woman by the collar and yanking her over to her.

"There was a guy out here earlier," she said in her business voice. "About my height with blonde hair. Did you see him?"

"Yeah I saw him alright," the woman replied, eyes wide with shock. "Kadijah and Amina took him. What's it to you?"

"I need him back," she said. "Tell me where tell me where your friends took him or I'll—"

"Wait, wait, don't! I'm not your enemy!" the woman said, waving her hands in a gesture of surrender. "My name's Mikayla, I'll take you straight to them, if you want!"

"You?" Zelda asked. "Why would you take us to them?"

"They betrayed me," Mikayla explained. "They left me here on my own to die! I can't forgive them for that! You'll never find them without my help."

"And how would you lead me to them?" Zelda demanded. "Do you have a car?"

Mikayla nodded. "Yeah, there's an extra rail hidden out there behind the convenience stor," she said, "for emergencies."

Zelda bit her cheek, taking a moment to consider the situation before blindly agreeing. On the one hand Mikayla's advice was, perforce, a means of leading her into a trap. That much had been easy to discern since Zelda had never heard such a poorly constructed lie. Mikayla could hardly have been abandoned if she still had transportation with her. However, seeing as she had no way of finding Link on her own, nor did she possess any means of getting to him without the sand rail the Gerudo, duplicitous as she might be, was her only hope. Besides, the Gerudo's base might even have some medicine that she could use to cure the rot in her side. She wasn't sure for how much longer she could sustain the magic spell that was keeping her alive.

"What's in it for you?" she asked.

"Me?" Mikayla asked. "Nothing much, I just want revenge is all! All I'm asking is that when we get there you leave me with the sand rail so I can get out of there."

"Do you have medicine at your base?" she asked. "Like blue potions, maybe?"

"Oh yeah, sure!" Mikayla replied. "It's all yours for the taking!"

"And how do I know this isn't a trap?" Zelda asked. She reasoned that it might be best to allow Mikayla to believe that she trusted her.

"This is no trap, I swear on my honour as a Gerudo."

That one almost got a laugh out of Zelda. While the Gerudo had a history of being thieves, they'd since abandoned thieving for a more respectable occupation as Hyrule's elite soldiers or, for those who couldn't handle the pressure of risking their lives, became resident citizens but there were still a few ignoble women among their ranks, namely the ones who were mercenaries. Mikayla was dressed for combat, which meant that she was desert-born and not civilian, but the Gerudo insignia was not present anywhere on her person which meant that she was a mercenary and an exile. It didn't take a connoisseur of the streets to know that mercenary's word was a poor thing.

_Just remember, you're doing this for Link,_ she thought.

"Very, well, I agree to your terms," Zelda said.

Mikayla smiled broadly and the two of them shook on it. Mikayla lead Zelda around to the back of the store and showed her the sand rail which was hidden under a sheet of white tarpaulin. Zelda made Mikayla uncover it, just in case.

"After you," Mikayla offered once she was done, gesturing to the sand rail.

Zelda agreed and took the driver's seat, while Mikayla slid in next to her, and they circled the sand rail back to the spot where she left Malon. Malon was thankfully still there, hiding and keeping a watchful eye on the road like she had been told. Her mouth dropped open when she saw Zelda approaching.

"Where did you get that?" she asked.

"On loan from out new friend Mikayla" Zelda said, gesturing at her passenger who twiddled her fingers at Malon flirtatiously. "Get in quickly, we're going after Link."

"But—" Malon protested. "But the bags!"

"Leave them!" Zelda commanded, well aware that by leaving the bags they were leaving all their food and most of her weapons behind but there was no room for all Malon's bags and she would have felt guilty bringing along her own things while forcing Malon to leave hers behind. Malon looked none too pleased by Zelda's response but she kept quiet and approached the rail's back seat.

"Wait!" Zelda said, causing both Malon and Mikayla to look up at her. "I'll sit in the back and you drive. I'm feeling a bit faint."

Malon eyed her suspiciously but agreed to switch seats with her, taking up the driver's seat while Zelda reclined in the back and kept a watchful eye on the both of them.

"Which direction, Miss Mikayla?" Zelda asked, turning to her passenger.

"Four miles from here," Mikayla, pointing, "towards Lakeside."

"Well then," Zelda said, absently touching the festering wound in her own side. "Off we go."

"Off we go," Malon said, sounding forlorn as she put her foot on the gas and the three women sped off into the approaching twilight.

* * *

Before Zelda had cast the charm of Resilience, she had known that it was going to be taxing. Her mother had warned her that it was only to be used in the most dire of circumstances, if she was dying and needed more time to get help or if her presence could make the difference between the success and failure of an important mission. She could understand why, although Resilience was the only thing that was standing between her and death it was killing her at the same time. The spell, as she understood it, ran on her life force which meant that every hour she used it, it was stripping some of her life away. A high price to pay, yes, but necessary.

While Resilience gave her more time to find Link by numbing her body and grinding her systems to a halt it was no cure. Although she couldn’t feel the pain of the wound, her movements were still sluggish and her body felt weak. The simple act of raising her arm, for example, required five times more effort than it had before and by the time she, Malon and their Gerudo guide and prisoner had piled into the sand rail and were approaching their destination, several miles away from the gas station and the road, she had broken out into a cold sweat.

She attempted to wipe her forehead with the sleeve of her shirt as discreetly as possible to avoid attracting Malon’s attention. Malon had become very protective of her as of late in light of her illness and would probably have had a heart attack if she knew what she was doing to herself for Link’s sake. Even seeing Zelda looking unwell would probably cause her an undue amount of alarm. Unfortunately, nothing escaped Malon’s notice.

“Zelda, are you okay back there? You look awful,” she said, craning her neck to get a better look at Zelda.

“No, no, I’m quite alright,” Zelda lied, leaning her head on one hand. She really needed to learn how to lie better; compulsive truthfulness was not a desirable trait in someone in her line of work.

Mikayla looked over at her without much interest. “You better not die back there,” she warned. “We’re miles away from anything and I hate having to touch dead bodies.”

“She’s not going to die!” Malon said, glaring at Mikayla.

“Thank you for the warning,” Zelda replied cuttingly. “I’d hate to inconvenience you.”

“Damn straight,” Mikayla said.

“How much longer till we’re there?” Malon asked, temporarily forgetting Zelda. “I thought you said we were close!”

“We _are_ close,” Mikayla said, flicking some dust off her shoulder.

Malon glared at her, obviously aggravated by her flippancy. “Can we throw this woman out?” Malon asked. “Let’s throw her out.”

“Like you could throw me out,” Mikayla retorted. “Besides, you two need me. You won’t be able to find the place without my help. You won’t be able to get in without me either. What, do you think the door is just going to be open?”

“No one is throwing anyone out,” Zelda said tiredly.

“Ha! Hear that, ginge?” Mikayla sneered. “No-one’s throwing anyone out.”

“Would you two kindly be quiet?” Zelda snapped. “You’re giving me a headache.”

“Wait, wait! This is it! You’re passing it!” Mikayla shouted suddenly.

Malon braked, causing the rail to come to a stop so suddenly that it nearly gave Zelda a whiplash. She looked out to see where they were, expecting to see a building only to find that they had parked beside a sheer, rocky cliff face.

 “This?” Malon asked. “There’s nothing here! You lied to us!”

“I didn’t lie,” Mikayla said defensively. “It’s a secret base obviously.”

The three of them jumped down from the rail, their footfalls muffled by the soft green grass. Zelda approached the cliff face and pressed one ear to the rock, tapping it experimentally with her fist.

“It’s hollow,” she told Malon, sliding her fingers along the rough surface. “I bet the base is concealed behind this rock wall.”

“That’s right,” Mikayla said, smiling conspiratorially. “Too bad you’ll never get the chance to see it.”

“What?” Malon said, just as Mikayla lunged for her. Unluckily, for her Zelda had foreseen her betrayal and, quick as lightning she grabbed Mikayla by the back of her shirt, yanked her backward and locked her neck in a sleeper hold. Mikayla screamed in outrage and clawed at Zelda’s arm, her long fingernails tearing holes in the sleeve of her shirt and creating gouges in the skin beneath but Zelda held fast and squeezed tighter until, at length, Mikayla stopped making noise and lapsed into unconsciousness. Zelda loosened her grip, lowered Mikayla to the ground and then stumbled, almost falling down herself.

“Are you alright, Zelda?” Malon asked, rushing over to catch her before she began solicitously patting her down for further injuries.

“I’m quite alright thanks,” Zelda replied, extricating herself from Malon’s attentions.

Malon turned her gaze on the fallen Gerudo next. “Good goddesses,” she whispered, “is she…”

“Dead? No, I’ve just knocked her unconscious,” Zelda replied. Malon still had a lot to learn if she was going to survive the coming months, she realised. She made a mental note to teach her what she knew. “Help me search her clothes.”

“Oh. Alright,” Malon replied, squatting down next to Zelda. “What am I looking for?”

“A key or a piece of paper with a password on it or something like that,” Zelda replied. “Something you might use to open a locked door.”

Malon nodded and she and Zelda went about picking through Mikayla’s pockets. Zelda was the first one to come up with anything, a candy wrapper from Mikayla’s shirt pocket. Malon found a comb in a concealed pocket in Mikayla’s loose pants and put it down beside the candy wrapper as well as a single earring, which she also added to the pile, before coming up with a card, a glossy dark purple piece of plastic with the vague impression of a triangle on it. “What about this?”

Zelda snatched it. “Perfect,” she said.

“But where do we put it?” Malon asked. “There isn’t exactly an arrow over there that says ‘insert card here’.”

Zelda frowned. In order to sustain Resilience, she was already taxing her magical abilities to their limits and she was loathe to try and use more but she was uncertain that she would be able to find the key card lock without relying on her magic to help her. She inhaled deeply and reached into her centre, sending her magic outwards to cover the area. With her sight expanded beyond herself, Zelda could sense the presence of all the living things in the field from Malon, breathing shallowly beside her, to a small lizard scuttling through the tall grass hundreds of metres away. The imposing rock wall of the cliff face appeared as if in high definition, every nook and cranny visible to her searching eye. Zelda took out the key card and slid it into a small, almost invisible, slit in the rock. A doorway opened up in the cliff side, an opening wide enough for them to drive the rail through.

“How did you know where it was?” Malon asked.

“I used the Sight,” Zelda explained. “It’s a Sheikah ability. I can see through illusions and see the locations of hidden things.”

Malon grabbed Mikayla’s arms and dumped her unconscious body into the back seat of the sand rail and the two of them drove the rail through the door. A Gerudo guard who had been patrolling the garage turned towards the door when she heard the sand rail approaching.

“Hey! No-one’s allowed to be in here!” she shouted at them, rushing to intercept them with one of her sabres raised. Malon squeaked and raised the bat that Link had given her, ready to protect Zelda from the attacker but before the guard could even get near them Zelda whipped a blowgun from the pocket of her jacket and shot a dart at the woman. She slapped her hand to her neck and opened her mouth to raise the alarm but she slumped to the ground in a stupor before she could get a word out.

“Okay what was _that?”_

“A sedative-hypnotic drug. It’s pretty harmless, so don’t worry,” Zelda said. “I just didn’t have the energy to fight.”

Zelda eyed her curiously. “Are you an assassin?”

“No, I’m not an assassin,” Zelda replied tiredly.

“You really need to start telling me about your strange Sheikah gadgets and magicks or whatever before you use them,” Malon complained. “I mean I’m not asking for a complete history or anything but a heads up might be nice.”

“Agreed,” Zelda said with a smile, putting the blowgun away.

“What should we do with this one?” Malon asked, jerking her head in the direction of the unconscious guard. “Throw her in the rail?”  

“Whether we leave them here or not, when the shift changes the next set of guards will raise the alarm and we’ll be in trouble,” Zelda pointed out. “Our only option is to find Link and get out before then. I suggest we make haste.”

Malon packed the second woman into the back seat of the sand rail and she and Zelda set off into the complex. Almost immediately, they found themselves lost. The halls of the facility twisted this way and that like the inside of a labyrinth and it took them far too long for Zelda’s comfort to make any decent headway.

“Can’t you use your Sight or something to find him?” Malon asked, exasperated.

“Unfortunately no,” Zelda said. “The Sight can only detect things that are hidden but Link isn’t in hiding nor is anyone trying to conceal him, I could use the Sight to sense his presence but I don’t know him well enough yet to pinpoint him specifically among all the people who are probably in here. We just have to look for him the old-fashioned way.”

At length they came to a long, wide corridor lined with bars on both sides. Zelda waved Malon over and they began to peruse the hall together, finding that all of the cells except one were dark and totally empty. Link was lying prone on the floor inside the cell although Zelda couldn’t tell whether he was sleeping or simply heavily sedated. There were four other figures lying in the cell, all similarly unconscious. The cell itself was of the small, poor sort that police threw drunk drivers and teenaged trouble makers in to cool their heels in overnight and was secured by a simple latch lock-padlock combo that would have proved no challenge to her skills if she still had her bag and all her lock picking equipment with her. Unfortunately, without her bag there was little that she could do about it.

Her head snapped around when a faint sound from the end of the hall caught Zelda’s attention. “Someone’s coming,” she hissed.

“Wha—” Malon began just as Zelda slapped a hand over her mouth and dragged her around a corner just in time to conceal them both from the sight of the two women who went marching by.

“Ugh,” one of them said. Falling back on her training, Zelda dubbed her ‘guard one’. She had always been taught to assign people names in order to better identify them. “That guy is such a pain. No wonder we have to keep him down in the basement. He’s more trouble than he’s worth, it would probably be safer just to kill him. Why are we even keeping him here?”

“I heard that we’re supposed to be subjecting him to some kind of test or something,” guard two replied.

“Well it’s dangerous,” guard one insisted grouchily. “I say we get rid of him.”

Guard two laughed as the two of them passed by Zelda and Malon’s hiding spot together. “Isn’t that your solution to everything?”

“Shut up.”

Only once the two women were well out of range and their footsteps had faded into the distance did Zelda allow herself to poke her head out into the open, mopping up the cold sweat that had broken out on her forehead. She felt a tingling sensation at the back of her skull, the same familiar tingling sensation that warned Zelda when something was up.

“How interesting,” she mused, stroking her chin.

“Zelda no,” Malon warned.

“We need to get down to that basement,” Zelda said.

“What about the plan?” Malon demanded. “Get in, get Link, get out before the guards change shift. Remember that?”

“Link won’t die if he stays in there for another few minutes,” Zelda begged her. “Besides, I need time to come up with a plan if we’re to move all those other people as well. We can hardly just leave them here.”

“We could get ourselves killed!” Malon cried.

“But we could be onto some very important information,” Zelda insisted. “I didn’t realise you were such a worrywart, Malon. You didn’t seem like the worrying type.”

“I’m not a worrywart!” Malon protested. “I’m just worried about _you_ is all.”

“Me?” Zelda said. “Malon, that’s very kind of you but you don’t need to worry about me.”

“Zelda don’t be dumb. You’re injured!” Malon retorted. “Of course I’m going to worry!”

“I don’t really care about this stupid wound, Malon,” Zelda insisted.

“That is the single most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard anyone say,” Malon said disgustedly. “You’re obviously delirious and you’ll stay right here until you’re well again.”

“Alright, fair enough,” Zelda admitted. “I’ll try to take better care of myself. But we need to investigate that basement. I get the feeling that it’s very important. Please?”

“Ugh, fine,” Malon agreed, crossing her arms and pouting. “You know how to play me like a fiddle, Zelda.”

Zelda shrugged and set off, leading Malon at a brisk trot down the hall. Without any real direction, they wandered the labyrinthine halls of the facility for the greater part of an hour until they came to an industrial lift, painted yellow with black striped. Malon gestured to it with a dramatic flourish.

“After you, my lady,” she said with a cheeky grin.

“Why thank you, Miss Malon. Don’t mind if I do,” Zelda replied, curtsying before she and Malon boarded the lift. Zelda took hold of the lever that she assumed operated the lift and and pulled it with all her strength.

The lift made a loud, creaking noise as it descended but to Zelda’s relief no-one came to find the source of the commotion, most likely because of the late hour, and Zelda was able to observe several other parts of the facility as the lift stopped on each floor until they reached the basement.

The complex was enormous; Zelda counted ten subterranean floors as they passed through them, not counting the basement floor which, despite its name, consisted of just one long, narrow hall with a metal door set into the wall on the far end.

“You know what I find really odd?” Zelda wondered. “This place is quite old, I wouldn’t hesitate to say that it’s been here for over ten years. Since the uprising started under a week ago obviously the two aren’t related or else how could this group, whoever they are, have gotten their act together quickly enough to make all this? I wonder why they’re here.”

Malon shrugged. “Maybe this base was already here and these guys just borrowed it?”

“Borrowed it?”

“That’s right,” Malon replied.

“Just how many underground, multi-storey facilities built into a cliff face do you think there are for loan in Hyrule?”

“Fine, fine, I guess you’re right,” Malon acquiesced. “But what do you think it means?”

“I’m not sure, but I suggest that we tread carefully,” Zelda replied. “I have a feeling that we may be getting involved in a much deeper plot here.”

Malon laughed. “What was your first hint?”

The fluorescent light bulbs overhead flickered eerily as Malon and Zelda cautiously approached the door. Unlike many of the other doors Zelda had seen in passing during their descent, this one had no key card, just a simple electronic lock with a keypad attached to it. _Simple, of course, being a relative term,_ Zelda thought.

Malon gave Zelda a look that said _now what?_ and after a moment’s thought Zelda took a deep breath and braced herself on Malon’s shoulder for support, realising that she would have to call on the Sight again. Her magic expanded outwards once more, blanketing the room and heightening her senses. With the Sight in play, the password to the door appeared plain as day as glowing fingerprints in the air and Zelda punched in the password as quickly as she could without messing it up before letting the magic dissipate. Malon cringed, as though waiting for something terrible to happen and she jumped away in fright when the door unlocked with an audible click.

Zelda took a moment to wipe the sweat from her hairline and then grasped the doorknob and pulled the door wide open. Beyond the door was a plain white room with a metal cot pushed up against one corner. A man was standing in the room’s centre with his broad, muscular shoulders towards the door, breathing deeply.

“If you’ve come here to kill me, traitors,” he said in a low, dangerous growl as he turned to face them, “then I’m afraid you’ve got another thi—” He faltered mid-sentence, his gold eyes blinking rapidly. “Zelda?” he said disbelievingly. “What are you doing here?”

Zelda herself recoiled in surprise. “ _Ganondorf_?”

 


	6. Power

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand three chapters later here it is! This one is my favourite chapter so far and will probably be one of my favourites for the entire fanfic. To be honest I tried holding off on this one for as long as possible, mostly for kicks, but since this chapter and chapter 2 take place at the same time I didn't want to take so long that people forgot about chapter 2 so here it is now! Also, many thanks to the friendly guest who left me a kudo. Bless.
> 
> Also, this chapter is "late" although if you've been following the fanfiction on fanfiction.net as well you'll notice that it updated as normal. If you haven't been though I'm really sorry, I have a really good reason I promise.
> 
> I...forgot?

Ganondorf had been standing in the antechamber for what felt like an eternity before the doors to the hall of the High Council finally opened a crack. As far as Ganondorf knew the doors to the hall had never opened all the way and never would; they were so heavy that after the ancient mechanism that had once operated them had fallen into disrepair hundreds of years ago opening them all the way would require a hundred women to each door and a lot of fanfare. If there was one thing the Gerudo despised it was fanfare.

His gold eyes followed the wizened old crone that stepped out through the door's opening as she approached him with painfully short, mincing steps. Both his mother and Koume, one of his tutors, gave him encouraging looks although neither one of them made a move to touch him, probably realising that he would just shrug them off. They backed away respectfully when the old woman stopped in front of him. She did not bother to ask him his name. After all, there was no mistaking him.

"The Council will see you now, Ganondorf," the old woman said.

Ganondorf rose and gave his mother and tutors a brief, respectful nod before following the old woman through the massive door and into the Hall. The last time Ganondorf had entered the Hall he had been but a child at his first hearing. Standing in the darkened of the council room and surrounded on all sides the massive mahogany benches that seated the veiled members of the High Council of Gerudo Elders, as well as the tension of waiting to learn whether he would be exiled from Hyrule or not, had intimidated him back then. Now he was a grown man, and a big man at that, but faced by the Council once again he felt about as significant as an insect.

The attendant led Ganondorf out of the deep shadow that covered most of the room and down a lit walkway but stopped him a few paces short of the tall wooden lectern at the other end. "Ganondorf Dragmire here to see the Council," the old woman intoned before she abandoned him, tapping away into the darkness with her crooked wooden cane.

"Approach, Ganondorf Dragmire," one of the veiled women answered. "You may stand before the Council."

Ganondorf , well versed in the protocol surrounding a visit to the council by his tutor, stepped up to the lectern and assumed the appropriate deferential kneeling position. One never 'stood' before the Council unless one was ordered to do so. He took a few deep breaths while his face was hidden from view, forcing his nervousness down. His caretakers Koume and Kotake had prepared him his entire life to face the council. He could hardly let them down by appearing weak before them, even if he was on his knees.

He waited in silence, frozen in place, until a second councilwoman asked, "Why have you come before the Council today?"

"I have come to enquire about the Rite of Kingship," he replied firmly.

There was silence on the bench for some time until someone else spoke. "You believe that you are fit to be king of the Gerudo?" she asked.

"I am. I have spent my life preparing myself to be a worthy king," he said, "as the divine law requires."

The councilwomen murmured among themselves for a time. Ganondorf knew why they hesitated. They were not eager to make a king of the man who shared a name with that infamous Gerudo tyrant, Ganondorf the Terrible, who had betrayed the king of Hyrule centuries ago. Ganondorf thought it was a bit unfair that he was being made to pay for his predecessor's mistakes when they had nothing to do with him.

"We understand that your right to rule is ordained by divine law," a councilwoman said, "but hundreds of years ago—"

"If I may, honourable councilwoman," Ganondorf said tiredly, hoping to be spared the history lesson he had heard time and time again. He knew how terribly rude he was being. He didn't care. "That was Ganondorf the Terrible's handiwork, not mine. I should not be made to pay for the sins of my predecessor."

"Nothing happens by chance, my prince," the same councilwoman remarked, evidently annoyed that she had been interrupted. "From the mightiest man to the smallest, most insignificant insect, we are all as dust blown by the winds of fate. Maybe you are not Ganondorf the Terrible but perhaps the gods have sent you to finish what he started."

Ganondorf was stunned into silence by that particular assertion, wondering he should reply. Wondering if he even could reply to something like that. At a loss for words he merely remained in his kneeling position with his and kept his gaze pointed at the ground, hoping it would conceal the rage that he was sure was evident in his eyes, and allowed silence to reign.

"The King of Hyrule would not be pleased to hear of your ascension," one of the Elders said, as though that settled the matter.

There was truth in her statement. Royal Family had held a grudge against the Gerudo for their involvement with Ganondorf the Terrible, which Ganondorf thought was awfully petty of them and would not be pleased that a new Ganondorf was taking the throne. The current king had even come to the desert several times to meet him personally and, just to make sure that he posed no real threat to Hyrule but he held his tongue and simply watched the councilwomen as the conferred with each other.

"You are dismissed," she said. "We have much to discuss."

Ganondorf stood, bowed, albeit somewhat stiffly, and strode from the room without even waiting for the shrivelled old woman to come and let him out. In the foyer, his mother and his caretakers and tutors, Koume and Kotake were waiting for him. They looked up when they heard the heavy door that lead to the Chamber of the Council creaking open, their eyes shining with anticipation.

"Well, don't keep us waiting!" Koume said at once, jumping up from her seat.

"How did it go?" Kotake finished, rubbing her hands together eagerly. Koume and Kotake had a strange and vaguely unsettling habit of finishing each other's sentences.

Ganondorf let out a long sigh. He hated having to disappoint them. "The Council dismissed me," he admitted. "They said they had 'much to discuss'."

Everyone fell silent. His mother, in particular, looked especially crestfallen. "Oh, Ganny, it's alright," she said, rubbing his arm with genuine sympathy. "I'm sure they'll come to their senses, you'll see."

Ganondorf scowled. "They told me that they won't let me perform the Rite of Kingship because they think I'm the next Ganondorf the Terrible," he said.

Nobody seemed to know how to reply to that. They had always known that his unfortunate name was a hurtle they would have to overcome but it wasn't anyone in their present company had had a say in the matter. Tradition dictated that the Gerudo prince be taken to the high priestess, who would then divine the name of the future king of the Gerudo by fasting and praying for a period of three days. However, that was what made the name 'Ganondorf' so ominous; it hadn't been chosen for him by his mother, the goddesses had given it to him. To make matters worse, Ganondorf the Terrible was the only other king of the same name.

On his naming day, when the word had gotten out that the name that the goddesses chosen to bestow on the Gerudo prince was 'Ganondorf' there had been a nationwide uproar and then, five years later when the whole mess had finally cooled down, the Royal Couple had produced the heir to Hyrule's throne and given her the similarly auspicious name 'Zelda' people had practically demanded his head and, when the King point-blank stated that he refused to execute a child, insisted that he be exiled from Hyrule to prevent a number of age-old prophecies from being realised. Ganondorf had forced to cultivate a very un-kingly air of gentility in order to convince people that he had no designs on the throne of Hyrule.

His mother had eventually confided in him that when she had first learned that she was pregnant she had wanted to call the baby "Layla".

"It's not too late," Ganondorf had replied.

Ganondorf was snapped out of his reverie when he saw his mother looking at him guiltily like she thought he might cry. Ganondorf found himself feeling offended at that. He never cried and he certainly wasn't about to start now.

"We ought to get back home," he said. "I have my books to attend to."

Kotake nodded and rang the bell that was placed in the foyer for their convenience causing an attendant appeared at the door to escort them out. No-one was allowed to wander around the building without a proper guide lest they find themselves on the lower floors. The upper floors might be perfectly habitable but dark and terrible things resided underground. Outside, the day was rapidly was rapidly drawing to a close. The warm pinks and oranges of the sunset seemed to set the desert sand ablaze with their fiery light. Sunsets in the Gerudo desert were always nothing short of breath-taking and people were known to travel thousands of miles just to see them. Ganondorf scowled at it. They had arrived to see the High Council since very early that morning. How dare they take up the entirety of his day knowing full well that they only intended to waste his time!

The four of them piled into the big sand rail that had been given to them for their personal use and they set off across the desert. Ganondorf was more than happy to leave the colossal hieroglyphic walls and soaring pillars of the Arbiter's Grounds behind. An ancient place like that carried such a sense of history in it. Ganondorf hated history.

No-one spoke during the ride, not even Koume and Kotake, who usually liked to bicker with each other when they found that things were getting too quiet. Ganondorf realised that his sour mood must have been getting to everyone but he couldn't bring himself to care, focusing instead on navigating the steep sand dunes that they encountered until at last the high sandstone walls of the Red Fortress came into sight. Ganondorf could barely contain his relief as he pulled into the garage where all the Fortress' occupants kept their vehicles. By the time they returned to the Fortress, sunset had come and gone and the air was filled with the deep chill that settled into his bones.

"I'll see you all in the morning. Mother, Miss Koume, Miss Kotake," he said before they could even climb out of the rail, bowing to each of them in turn before he left the garage at a brisk trot.

He didn't go to his quarters as he had promised. Something told him that poring over literature that was supposed to teach him how to be a more efficient ruler would do nothing to improve his mood. Instead he pulled his scarf over his head to protect him from the biting cold and left the garage. He wandered aimlessly in the street for a quite some time before going home, although there was nothing to see. The activity in the bustling market that was situated right outside the walls of the Fortress was cooling down with the oncoming twilight. There were no outdoor lights near the Red Fortress since Ganondorf's tribe in particular insisted that its members live in more or less the traditional fashion, although many Gerudo had moved into Hyrule proper, where they led comfortable lives.

A few of the women nodded and made other respectful gestures at him from astride their camels or as they drove by in their sand rails and Ganondorf made sure to give each of them a respectful nod. Even if his face was covered he was still instantly recognisable since he was the only man around. Now and then a group of girls would shoot him a sidelong glance and giggled amongst themselves but no-one bothered to approach him.

When he finally dragged his sorry carcass back to the Red Fortress he found his eldest sister Nabooru there blocking his entrance by leaning in the doorway with her usual smug grin on. She looked as though she had been waiting for him.

"Hey, Ganny's back!" she said, standing upright. "So, Kotake told me that you'd gone up to your bedroom to study and of course I had to find out how the hearing went. You know me. Nosy. But I get up there and surprise, surprise, no Ganondorf. So, how'd it go? Do I have to call you 'milord' now or do you prefer 'your majesty'?"

Ganondorf managed a small smile before he explained to Nabooru what had happened. "Aw man, that's so unfair!" she said. "They can't do that, can they?"

Ganondorf shrugged. "Apparently they can," he replied.

Even Nabooru, for all her usual vociferousness, was silent at that. "Do you need a hug?" she said, once she had recovered her powers of speech.

Ganondorf shook his head no but as usual Nabooru gave him the hug anyway. He was so tall compared to her that he had to bend down to receive it but it still felt nice.

"Well come on, let's just watch some TV or something. That always cheers you up," she said, grabbing Ganondorf's arm and bodily dragging him inside.

Nabooru escorted him to her own room instead of taking him back to his. He didn't blame her. His room was more functional than anything else, with the only comfortable thing in the entire room being the soft bed he had pushed into one corner and the rest being dedicated to books, maps, globes and writing instruments of all sorts as well as his ceremonial clothing and weapons and all of it was as neat as a pin. Besides, Nabooru's room was the only one that that a TV in it. She turned on the television, one of their few concessions to modern technology and started flipping through the channels.

"Wouldn't you know it," she complained. "There's never anything on!"

"Nabooru wait," Ganondorf said suddenly. "Go back!"

Nabooru went back just in time for Ganondorf to catch an interview between a reporter and a very nonchalant scientist, talking about some kind of outbreak. Oddly enough, as a response to the reporter becoming more and more frantic about the matter at hand the scientist simply became increasingly blasé.

"That scientist is acting a bit weird, don't you think?" Ganondorf said suspiciously.

Nabooru shrugged and raised the remote to change the channel. Then they both saw it: the unmistakeable red glint in the scientist's eyes just before he lunged at the reporter and sank his teeth into the unprotected flesh of his neck. Ganondorf jumped backwards as though from real and immediate danger as the now un-dead scientist started on a rampage, tearing into the unfortunate film crew. By the time the camera cut away to two flustered anchors to spare the eyes of the public from any further carnage Ganondorf had already seen enough. More than enough. His day was just getting better and better.

Nabooru turned to him, eyes wide with shock. "What the hell was that?" she said, although she knew as well as he did what she had seen. "Was that a—" but Ganondorf was up and out of his seat before she could even finish.

"Re-dead," be spat. "Re-deads are attacking Hyrule."

"But how?" Nabooru countered. "There hasn't been a re-dead outbreak in Hyrule in a hundred years! The Sheikah have their numbers well under control!"

"Does that look under control to you?" Ganondorf said, pointing to the TV. "Does it?"The video had switched to a reporter hovering hundreds of metres over what looked like Kakariko in a helicopter. It was hard to tell what was what anymore because of all the smoke from the burning buildings that was obscuring the ground from view but he thought he saw a cable car somewhere in the carnage. Here and there he could also make out a human form passing by, moving with the unmistakable shuffling gait of a re-dead.

Nabooru opened her mouth to say something else when there was a knock on the door and an old woman let herself in without waiting for an invitation.

"Lady Aisha has summoned you to the throne room," the old woman said without preamble. "You are to attend at once."

She departed as swiftly and as quietly as she came, leaving behind a stunned Nabooru and Ganondorf. Ganondorf raised his thick eyebrows. "Wow," he said. "News travels fast around here."

Lady Aisha was situated in the opposite wing of the Red Fortress to the one that Ganondorf and his entourage occupied so it had only taken Ganondorf the span of a scant few minutes to cross the Red Fortress to her office and personal living quarters but by the time he arrived it was already packed with people, most of whom were jostling each other for space or shouting to be heard above one another. Nevertheless, he was able to easily pick out Lady Aisha, as she was sitting near the back of surrounded by a squad of her own personal guards as well as the veiled members of the High Council of Gerudo Elders, who were plying her with questions.

Ganondorf left Nabooru at the door and entered the fray, intent on making his way to Lady Aisha. The crowd parted for him as he passed and then closed up behind him once had gone, swallowing him up like he had entered the body of an enormous creature until at last he reached the Gerudo leader's side and kneeled before her.

"My lady," he said, kissing his knuckle and touching it to his forehead in the traditional Gerudo fashion. "Honourable councilwomen." He added, pleased that he had succeeded in keeping the rancour out of his voice.

"Ganondorf, I'm glad you're here," Lady Aisha said in an ancient, quivering voice. "Have you seen what has happened in Hyrule?"

"I have," Ganondorf said, rising. "I was lucky enough to see moments before you called me."

"And what do you think?" she asked, lacing her gnarled fingers together.

Ganondorf weighed his words very carefully before answering. Lady Aisha's true position in the hierarchy of the Gerudo was as his vizier and she was only leader during the period between the death of the old king and the day that he was able to ascend the throne himself, which had already encompassed all of his twenty-five years was now looking like it might continue indefinitely. Nevertheless she was just as important as his caretakers in training him for the kingship and it was more than likely that the question was just another one of her tests and was not actually interested in his advice. Unless he gave her a particularly good answer, that is.

"If Hyrule is really as overrun as the reports suggest then I assume that the Royal Family will soon be paying us a visit," Ganondorf said. "Perhaps we should send a convoy to the edge of the desert to receive them and make sure they arrive safely."

In truth he was a bit excited about that. A visit from the Royal Family would obviously mean a visit from the Princess and he was rather fond of the Princess. They had grown up together and were very fast friends.

"What else?" Lady Aisha pressed.

"We ought to send out a few of our snipers to ensure that things don't get out of hand. The last thing we need is for any re-deads to cross over into the desert." Ganondorf added, serious now.

Lady Aisha nodded her agreement. Out in the desert re-deads were considered especially deadly. The desert was dangerous enough even without the threat of re-deads looming over everyone's heads but the fact that the hot, dry air and burning sand only dried them out and made them survive for longer than normal made re-deads particularly worrisome. It only took one re-dead to trigger a plague of walking undeath that could wipe out every Gerudo in the desert.

One of Lady Aisha's advisors sniffed haughtily. "The Sheikah ought to have prevented this," she said. "And furthermore, they ought to have called us before the Plague got so far out of hand."

"Perhaps they're too ashamed to admit that their namby-pamby method of monster control doesn't do anybody any good," another advisor put in.

Everyone laughed at that, except for Ganondorf and the High Council. The Sheikah and their Gerudo counterparts, the Arbiters, who were known to the rest of Hyrule as soldiers and divine judges, had radically different views on how to deal with monsters. The Sheikah were the first responders who preferred to remain in the shadows, monitoring them and keeping them as far separate from the public as possible. Only when they began attacking the innocent would the Sheikah intervene to destroy them. The Arbiters, on the other hand, preferred a method known as the 'kill-them-all approach'. If there was a large monster invasion the Sheikah would often call on the Arbiters to swoop in and wipe up the mess before the word got out. They might not approve of their methods but there was no questioning that the Arbiters were simply the finest re-dead slayers alive.

"Lady Aisha, I must say that I disagree," a councilwoman said, much to Ganondorf's annoyance. "If the infestation is really as bad as Ganondorf claims then wouldn't the wisest course of action be to fortify our own borders before the monsters attack?"

"You mean sit here in our fortress while the infestation wipes out the rest of Hyrule?" Ganondorf said, struggling to keep the tightness out of his voice. "The Gerudo warriors are defenders of the realm, councilwoman, the same as any soldier."

"Stop bickering, both of you," Lady Aisha commanded, waving her hand at both him and the councilwoman. The councilwoman reluctantly remained silent, which Ganondorf observed triumphantly. Although the High Council was one of the highest authorities in Gerudo territory they still had to answer to the head of the Arbiters and the leader of the Gerudo. Nevertheless, he refrained from smirking or doing anything of that nature. It would do him no good to appear petulant.

Deciding that he'd had enough of the High Council for one day Ganondorf began to look for a way to excuse himself from the conversation. "I would like to volunteer myself as part of the welcoming party for the Royal Family, my lady," he said.

Lady Aisha dismissed him with a careless wave of her hand. "Well go on then," she said, turning to one of the other veiled women.

Ganondorf performed the Gerudo hand gesture again and then turned on his heel to leave the throne room, acutely aware of the eyes of all the councilwomen on his back. Nabooru was still waiting for him in the hall that led to Lady Aisha's chamber, anxiously tapping her foot. She perked up once she saw Ganondorf approaching but he did not stop, forcing Nabooru to fall into step with him.

Once they had crossed the Fortress and arrived at Ganondorf's chamber she asked, "What's going on?"

Ganondorf was surprised that she had waited for so long to ask since she usually wasn't the type to beat around the bush. Was it possible that she didn't want their conversation to reach the ears of the High Council? He brushed past her and grabbed his sabres from their place on a wall-mounted rack, strapping them around his waist without a word.

"Ganny what's wrong? Tell me!" Nabooru demanded, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Things aren't looking very good," Ganondorf admitted with a sigh. "I'm going to the border to receive the Royal Family and escort them back here."

"Oh?" Nabooru said, twirling a strand of her hair. "Going to collect your little girlfriend eh, Ganny?"

Ganondorf scowled. "The Princess is not my girlfriend, Nabooru," he said. "She's a friend but that's it. You ought to know that."

"Calm down it was just a joke," Nabooru said, rubbing her hands together eagerly. "So when are we leaving?"

"We?" Ganondorf echoed incredulously.

"Yes 'we'," Nabooru said, pinching Ganondorf's cheek hard. "You don't think I'd let my baby brother venture out into the desert alone do you?"

"I guess not," Ganondorf said. No matter how old or how kingly he got Nabooru would never stop treating him like a baby. "Get your things and meet me in the garage. We leave in five minutes."

By the time Nabooru met him in the garage exactly six minutes later Ganondorf was already waiting in one of the rock climbers that the Gerudo traversed the desert in when defence was a priority. It wouldn't win any beauty contests although it was brand new and the paint was shiny and unchipped but it was the best one they had, fitted with a wedged plough in the front to push things out of the way and, most importantly, it was heavily armoured.

"You're late," Ganondorf sniffed. Nabooru was always late.

"I'm never late," Nabooru said with a cheeky grin, swinging herself up into the vehicle with ease. "You were early."

He gunned the engine and pulled out of the garage, taking care not to hit any of the Gerudo who were ambling about in the street. Since the territory inhabited by the Arbiters was the one furthest away from the border and one of the largest, encompassing about a quarter of the desert, the ride there was a long one but during times of strife the Royal Family was usually vacated there, probably precisely because of its distance from the border and because it was the most strongly fortified. The only other real viable option was the Sky Keep but the trek up the mountain to the Keep was famously hazardous and no-one wanted to risk the Royal Family falling to their deaths in an icy precipice.

Despite the length of the trip, when they finally arrived at the border the Royal Family was nowhere in sight.

"Where is the Royal Family?" wondered Ganondorf, who was famous for his impatience. "They should be here already."

"Guess they're running late," Nabooru said with a shrug. "There's nothing we can do but wait."

So they waited but the night went on and got deeper and turned into the faint blue twilight of the dawn before a sleek, black SUV appeared on the horizon. Ganondorf shook Nabooru awake and leapt from his seat, standing in front of the vehicle where the Royal Family could see them. The oncoming vehicle advanced slowly, taking its own sweet time before it rolled to a halt at the edge of the desert.

A harried-looking driver descended from the vehicle and approached Ganondorf. "Prince Ganondorf?" he asked cautiously.

"Speaking," Ganondorf said with a nod. "And this is my elder sister Nabooru."

"Charmed, I'm sure," said Nabooru, with a hint of flirtation in her voice.

Ganondorf shot her a disapproving look. "We've come to escort you and the Royal Family to the Red Fortress," he said to the driver.

"There's a problem, my lord," the driver said anxiously, mopping his glistening brow with a washcloth.

"What kind of problem?" Ganondorf asked suspiciously.

"They're injured," the driver explained.

Ganondorf blanched. "Bitten?"

The driver shook his head. "There was an accident when they first attempted to evacuate the castle," he said. "We recovered them from the wreckage. They're alright but they need medical attention."

Despite the bad news Ganondorf could hardly restrain his sigh of relief although Nabooru was apparently under no such compunction because she exhaled loudly. People who were infected with the plague weren't allowed into the desert, far less the Red Fortress and the penalty for doing so was death (by decapitation, naturally). The last thing he wanted to have to do was explain that the king and queen of Hyrule were infected and that he'd had to kill them.

The driver opened the door of the SUV, revealing the King and Queen lying unconscious in the back seat. The Queen had a nasty gash on her forehead and a slash down her side, both of which would most likely need stitches in order to heal properly, while the King was scratched and bruised but no worse for wear. Ganondorf called to Nabooru with a quick hand signal and they each picked up one of the monarchs and deposited them into the back seat of the rock climber and arranged them with as much dignity as possible.

"The princess?" Ganondorf said, finally voicing the worry that had been pressing at the back of his mind. "Was she in the wreckage as well?"

The driver shook his head again. "My apologies, my lord," he said. "The princess was not in the castle and the king and queen were forced to leave without her. A second car was left behind to bring her here once she returns. She should be here soon."

A worried look passed between Ganondorf and Nabooru. Zelda had been well-trained in the ways of the Sheikah by the Queen herself, he knew, but the Sheikah were protectors and not true warriors and besides that he didn't like the odds of one person against an army of re-deads one bit.

"I see," he said. "Should we wait?"

"We should get the king and queen back to the Fortress as soon as possible," Nabooru whispered, putting a hand on his arm. "Their injuries need to be treated."

Ganondorf scowled and unhappily agreed, gesturing for the driver to climb into the backseat with the injured monarchs. The SUV could not cross the desert sand without sinking into it and getting stuck and it would be cruel to send the poor driver back to the tender mercies of the re-dead horde after he had delivered the King and Queen safely to them.

No one spoke on the long ride back to the Fortress. Ganondorf had no intention of voicing his worries, concentrating instead on keeping the vehicle steady as it climbed over the red dunes, and for once Nabooru didn't ask. She probably knew what was on his mind already as well as that talking about it wouldn't make it any better. The driver, for his part, had fallen asleep in the back seat, much to Nabooru's disappointment, and couldn't contribute much by way of conversation so in the end the only noise was the pained groans the Queen occasionally let out as she tossed and turned in the back seat.

When Ganondorf finally arrived at the Fortress there were several women standing in the garage ready to receive the Royal Family with as much dignity as possible but Ganondorf shooed them away.

"They're injured. Call a medic at once," he instructed.

The women nodded and scattered. Nabooru shook the driver awake and took him away to a private room. Ganondorf waited for the women to return with a medic and accompanied the sleeping royals back to the medical ward where he oversaw their treatment. He still didn't feel like facing his tutors, his mother or his other sisters just yet. Unfortunately the choice was taken away from him.

"Ganny?" a small voice said.

Ganondorf turned his head towards the door and saw Nora, the youngest of his sisters sisters, poking her small head around the doorjamb.

"Yes, what is it?" Ganondorf asked, trying not to sound too gruff. Afifa was a small, quivering mouse of a girl and was often frightened by his rough manner. This annoyed Ganondorf to no end. She was the exact opposite of a Gerudo warrior and would most likely end up leaving the desert behind when she came of age but in the meantime no good would come of making the child burst into tears.

"Miss Koume and Miss Kotake are calling you," Afifa squeaked. "They said breakfast's ready."

She scampered off before Ganondorf could reply. Breakfast was the last thing on his mind just then; he had some very important questions to ask the king and queen, and of course he hadn't slept yet. But how does one question one's king? He wondered. I can't exactly go to him and start firing off questions. Unfortunately, although was king in the desert but King Matteus was king everywhere else, a fact that irked him for some reason.

He reluctantly left the King to his rest and returned to his own wing of the Fortress after giving the guards strict orders to keep an eye on the king and queen. When he arrived at the breakfast table everyone was already waiting for him. His mother, his tutors and all six of his sisters all turned to look at him simultaneously when he entered the room.

Ganondorf was confused. While he was prince of the Gerudo and was usually treated him with utmost respect his sisters especially liked to remind him that he wasn't king yet by treating him with no more than a passing interest and ignoring him whenever possible. He spotted the source of their consternation before he could even ask what was wrong. One of the veiled women from the High Council of Gerudo Elders was sitting at the table with them, looking at him intently. She rose and approached him, her soft slippers making no sound against the tiles.

"Councilwoman," Ganondorf said. "To what do I owe the honour?"

"Lady Aisha has summoned you once more," the councilwoman replied, obviously annoyed at having been reduced to carrying messages.

This did not surprise Ganondorf. It was true that Lady Aisha had never summoned him more than once a week but they were dealing with a national emergency now. What surprised him was that he had not been called sooner. Ganondorf followed the councilwoman out with little more than a perfunctory nod to his family.

He was led back Lady Aisha's personal quarters, which was now totally empty. Now that the room was free of the throng it was apparent that, like all the other rooms in the Red Fortress Lady Aisha's quarters were sparsely yet beautifully furnished with ornate rugs and elegant furniture made from carved, lacquered wood. The lights were off and the only illumination in the room was coming from the small TV in the corner of the room that Lady Aisha herself was watching intently.

"The High Council has come to a decision," Lady Aisha said.

"So quickly?" Ganondorf said. The High Council was known to take months, even years to come to an important decision. He hadn't expected to hear whether he would be allowed to perform the Rite of Kingship for a long time still. "What's the catch?"

Lady Aisha was silent for a long while. "You will be allowed to perform the Rite of Kingship," she said at last.

Ganondorf's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"Yes," Lady Aisha replied. "But only if you can prove to the High Council that you are loyal."

"And how can I do that?" Ganondorf asked suspiciously.

Lady Aisha sighed and then turned to look directly at him. "In order to prove that you are loyal to the Gerudo and to Hyrule you must put down the re-dead uprising in the east," she said at last. "If you return alive you will be allowed to perform the Rite."

There were several things he wanted to say but he only shrugged his shoulders and said, "Is that all?"

Lady Aisha offered him a sly smile. "I'm glad you seem to be so nonchalant about it."

Ganondorf shrugged. "Am I dismissed?" he asked.

"Dismissed."

Ganondorf stalked out of the room as Lady Aisha turned back to the television. Blinking his stinging, sleep-deprived eyes and forcing back the first strains of a very unfamiliar emotion rising within him. Fear. Cold, gripping fear was rising in his throat like bile, threatening to choke him. There could be no succeeding on a mission like his. The High Council did not want him to perform the Rite of Kingship and they had no intention of doing so. They were sending him off to die. He wanted to run. He wanted to lash out. What he ended up doing was walking straight back to his family, eating his breakfast as though nothing had happened, despite their curious looks and retiring to his quarters for some much-needed rest but before he could drift properly off into sleep a sharp pinch on his neck woke him up.

"Damn it, Nabooru," Ganondorf growled when he pried his eyes open and saw her standing at the foot of the bed. "Can I sleep?"

"What did the High Council want?" she asked him.

"They wanted my sister to keep her nose out of my business," Ganondorf replied.

"Ganondorf I'm serious," she said, her voice devoid of any of its usual teasing.

Ganondorf sighed and sat up in bed, giving Nabooru some room to take a seat beside him. "The High Council has graciously made a compromise," he said sarcastically. "I'll be allowed to perform the rite of kingship after all and all I need to do is put down the re-dead uprising."

"But that's impossible," Nabooru protested. "You'll be killed!"

"That's the idea," Ganondorf replied bitterly. "If they don't crown me king or have me killed they'd risk angering the goddesses but if I go out and die on my own then that's another story entirely."

"Well you can't go then!" Nabooru insisted. "Don't go! Just stay here with us!"

"You know I don't have the power to refuse the High Council, Nabooru," Ganondorf said. "But it's alright, I'm going to prove the them wrong. I won't rest until every last one of those monsters is eradicated and then I'll return to the desert and claim my crown."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, a very decent chapter if I do say so myself (and I do. I just did). Just to clarify, the Arbiters here are a foil to the Sheikah. If the Sheikah are ninjas or rogues then the Arbiters would be paladins. Also, I battled with myself for a long time over whether or not I should include Ganondorf as one of the protagonists because I couldn't decide whether it was in his nature to be evil or not. Somewhere along I decided to include him but I'm glad I did because the Gerudo only made their appearance as zombie-hunters which kind of added a new dimension to what I'm going for here.


	7. Corvus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...this week I have some actual news. 
> 
> I've decided that this chapter will be the last of the scheduled weekly updates mostly because I've been so preoccupied by producing new chapters in time to meet a deadline that I haven't been writing as well as I could be and I really think I ought to be putting my best foot forward, even if it takes me a bit longer to do it. Sorry about that.
> 
> On the other hand, because I'm not working towards deadlines anymore I'll have time to work on little side projects when I want to give the old coconut a rest from thinking about zombies and secret councils while still saying frosty. If you like this fanfic then please consider checking some of those out too. They'll be up soon for your viewing pleasure.

His mother had begged him not to go on the High Council's mission, she'd insisted that his place was in the desert with her and his sisters but he'd flat out refused her. He couldn't back down from an offer of the High Council, especially when it could be the only way he might still attain the kingship. The confusing part was that, from what Lady Aisha had told him, Ganondorf had assumed that he would be going on a solo mission and yet the she had provided him with a contingent of the Fortresses' soldiers. Why would Lady Aisha send soldiers with him on what was bound to be a suicide mission? Was it just for show or did she think that there was an actual chance that he could succeed?

He was also bothered by the fact that Nabooru was not allowed to come with him. Although maybe not as good as he was she was still an exceedingly capable fighter and he trusted her implicitly. Besides, if it was going to die it would be nice to see his family one last time. For that reason he had flat out refused Nabooru's offers to leave the desert with him, as well as those of his other sisters. In fact, he had used what authority he did have to point-blank order them to stay behind. He might not have been the eldest, but he still felt that it was his duty to protect his family from sharing his fate.

He had left his family's suites and headed to the medical ward when his mother's crying eventually became too unbearable. The King and Queen were lying side by side on a pair of specially acquired cots. They had to be larger than most in order to accommodate the King's wide-shouldered bulk and of course it didn't feel right to leave the Queen sleeping on a cheap, thin mattress when the King was being offered the best available. Much to Ganondorf's trepidation they were both deep in sleep with few signs that they would be waking soon other than the occasional murmur or groan.

He was due to leave the desert at first light and his bag, which had been easy to organise because it contained only things like tracking equipment, extra weapons and dry rations, was already packed and waiting for him, as were the ceremonial weapons and garb he was required to wear when hunting. However, he couldn't let go of the feeling that the royal couple, particularly the Queen, who was a member of the Sheikah clan and an honorary member of the infamous Shadow Council, could tell him something that could be of crucial importance. He needed them to be awake and lucid enough to answer his questions but the two of them continued sleeping oblivious to his desires.

One of the nurses, mistaking his constant pacing about the ward for worry rather than impatience, decided to reassure him. "There's no need to worry, my prince, they'll be alright," she said, indicating the stitched up wound on the Queen's forehead and the King's comically large bandage. "Their wounds are only minor and should heal perfectly within a couple of weeks."

"What happened to them?" Ganondorf asked, crossing his arms and looking sternly down at the Queen. "Did you get anything out of the driver?"

"The driver?" the nurse responded.

"Yes, the man who drove the royal couple down to the border," Ganondorf said. "He was with my sister earlier."

The nurse tapped her chin. Her brow furrowed as though she were deep in thought. "Well if you say so but I don't remember seeing any driver, Prince Ganondorf," she said at length. "But if he's around he should turn up soon. It's not as though he could have wandered off, there's nothing but desert out there!"

With a little laugh she abandoned him and returned to her work, leaving Ganondorf standing beside the Queen's cot with a growing feeling of dread. Then he felt it, the familiar cold feeling that coiled in his gut as though a snake was slithering through his innards. Ganondorf looked over his shoulder to see if he was still the only person in the room and saw the doctor standing alone on the ward's balcony, staring right at him with empty unseeing eyes in a stark white face like a skull.

Ganondorf briefly considered ignoring the doctor and going back to is business but, knowing that it had already seen him looking at it, there was no point in feigning ignorance now. He approached the balcony, stepped outside and shut the door behind him. The black and white figure dropped into a deep bow, a gesture that Ganondorf stubbornly refused to return. Once the doctor had straightened his lanky frame the two of them stood together on the balcony for what seemed like an eternity in complete silence except for the cold, howling wind that swayed the hem of the doctor's black cloak and threatened to tear Ganondorf's scarf off his head.

"My lord," the doctor said at last in its smooth, rich voice. For some reason, its voice was always very clear, despite the fact that it was wearing an enormous, beaked mask.

"Get out," Ganondorf snapped.

The doctor made to attempt to move. It didn't even flinch. "And a good evening to you as well," it replied.

"I thought I told you if I ever saw you again, I would kill you," Ganondorf said, without taking his eyes off the doctor's tinted glass "eyes".

The beak doctor tilted its head to the side quizzically. "I think we both know that you would never kill me, my lord," it said, with a hint of smugness. "You need me."

"When have I ever once needed anything from you?" Ganondorf said sharply.

"You will need me _one day_ ," the beak doctor assured him.

"We are two of a kind. I know you better than you know yourself."

Unfortunately, that was probably true. The beak doctor had always been in his life, watching over him and keeping tabs on his doings but it was only after he'd started speaking to him that Ganondorf had begun to realise it. His favourite tactic was appearing in the background of his family photographs, usually standing among a crowd, observing but never observed. In the photograph that Ganondorf's mother had taken of him and Nabooru hugging on Nabooru's eighth birthday, the bird man was in that one too standing some distance outside the window and looking directly at him. He'd taken one of the photographs to his mother and asked her about the tall, skinny masked person.

His mother had only given him a queer look and replied, "There's no-one there, Ganny."

That was the last time Ganondorf had ever asked a question about the beak doctor.

Ganondorf's relationship with the beak doctor was complicated. He was unsettled by it, but not afraid of it. For the most part he wanted to know what it wanted from him since he assumed it must want something if it was paying him such special attention. He had no intention of playing the part of a pawn in its schemes. Most of all, he just wanted it to go away, although the beak doctor seemed entirely disinclined to do anything of the sort. The worst part about him was that within the suit that covered every inch of his body and beyond the stark white mask with its red-tinted eyepieces Ganondorf got the eerie feeling that there was nothing and that the suit was entirely empty.

"What happened to the driver?" Ganondorf asked him.

"Gone," the beak doctor replied.

"Gone where?"

The beak doctor didn't answer him but Ganondorf was entirely unwilling to drop the subject.

"I didn't realise you would care," the beak doctor replied. "Getting soft in your old age, my prince?"

"Prince Ganondorf," said a voice from the doorway.

Ganondorf turned suddenly, as though he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't. "Yes?" he asked evenly.

"The Queen is awake, my prince," said the owner of the voice, the nurse he had spoken to earlier. "She asked to speak with you."

Ganondorf's eyes flicked back to the spot where the beak doctor had been standing but, predictably, he had vanished without a trace. "Yes, of course," Ganondorf replied. "I'll be right there. Please give me a moment."

The nurse nodded respectfully and bowed out, leaving Ganondorf by himself in the biting air. He looked around for a moment to ensure that the beak doctor had really gone and wasn't still hiding somewhere in the shadows, watching him before making his way back to the royal couple's ward.

The Queen was still lying supine on her cot, awake but unmoving. Her red eyes were fixed on the ceiling above and the hand that was not hooked up to the IV bag was holding tightly onto the King's larger one, stroking it absently with her finger. She dropped it immediately when she saw Ganondorf enter the room.

"Ganondorf Dragmire?" she asked.

Ganondorf had never understood why people always felt the need to verify his identity. He was the only desert-born man in the entire kingdom and he thought it should be readily apparent exactly who he was. Nevertheless he nodded and dropped into a bow.

"Speaking, Your Majesty," he said, absently rubbing the bandages on his hand. "You called?"

The Queen stared at him, anxiously clenching and unclenching her fist. Ganondorf's attention was suddenly drawn to how muscular her arms were. The Queen, even among the Sheikah, was famous for her skill in the deadly arts. Rumour had it that she was so quick that she could snatch enemy arrows right out of the air but he would reserve judgement on that one until he actually saw it for himself.

"I'd like to ask you a question, if that's alright with you," she said at last.

Ganondorf narrowed his eyes and regarded her suspiciously. "Of course, Your Grace," he said in a tight, rehearsed voice. "I live to serve the Crown."

Now it was the Queen's turn to look suspicious. "Is that so?"

"Of course, Your Grace," Ganondorf replied. "I only hope you don't mind if I ask a few questions of my own."

The Queen eyed him up and down for a moment but Ganondorf kept his gaze steady. The Queen, he knew was not highborn and had married into the royal family which made her much less liable to take offense to breaches in protocol which made her easier to deal with than the King. Unfortunately as a Sheikah guardian and member of the Shadow Council she would probably not be forthcoming with her answers. She needed to know that he meant business.

"Very well," the Queen replied, "ask away."

"Wouldn't you like to go first, your highness?" Ganondorf said, taking a seat in the wooden chair that had been set out for him.

The Queen replied. "I have a feeling that you won't be in a speaking mood once you hear what I have to say."

"How do I know what's out of bounds?" he asked her.

"You don't," the Queen replied. "If you ask a question that I don't think you need to know the answer to I'll just not respond and it will be my turn to ask."

Ganondorf considered that for a moment before pressing on. "Where's Princess Zelda?" Ganondorf asked at last. "Why didn't you bring her with you?"

A dark look overtook the Queen's features. For a moment Ganondorf wondered if he had asked one of the questions he was not allowed to but eventually the Queen answered, "We couldn't bring her."

"What does that mean?"

"When we left she wasn't in the castle, she snuck out and left. She's never done that before," she paused. "I think that her time has come. The hands of fate have taken her away."

Ganondorf didn't at all like the sound of that. "She's dead?"

"Not dead. Gone."

If Ganondorf had been confused before he was even more so now. "Aren't you worried about her?" he dared to ask.

"Of course I'm worried about her, I'm her mother," the Queen snapped, looking like she would have jumped out of bed and throttled him for his supposition were it not for the needle in her arm. "No more questions out of you, Prince."

Ganondorf scowled but he realised that he had given her his word and he liked to think that the strength of his word was unshakeable. "Very well," he replied.

The Queen studied him for a moment, twiddling her thumbs in a very unqueenly gesture as though trying to decide the best angle to ask him what she was about to ask. "Is it true that you're going on a mission into Hyrule," she said.

"How did you know about that?" Ganondorf asked her.

The Queen' expression turned guarded. "I have my ways."

"You mean magic," Ganondorf supplied.

The Queen quirked an eyebrow at him. "Do you know the legend about the Man in the Well, Prince Ganondorf?" she replied archly.

Ganondorf backed off. As a child, 'The Man in the Well' had been his favourite story and he'd had his mother tell and re-tell it to him every night otherwise he would refuse to go to sleep. As the story went The Man in the Well was a mundane, non-magical human who had lived in Kakariko Village during the times when it was predominantly settled by Sheikah Clansmen and every day he would sit on the front steps of his little hut and watched as the Sheikah who lived there performed amazing feats with the aid of their shadow magic. For a time he was content just to watch but after many years of simply watching the man grew envious of their power and he longed to be able to do such a thing himself.

He first approached the elder of Kakariko Village, the head of the Sheikah clan who lived there and asked him to become his tutor in the magical arts but the elder turned him away, saying that the arts of the Sheikah, passed down to them by the goddesses themselves, were for the ears of the Sheikah only and that they were not permitted to share them with outsiders. Furthermore, it would be better just to forget that he had seen anything at all.

But the man could not forget and the elder's refusal had made him even more determined than ever before and so in the basement of his house he began to gather research, performing experiments and rituals with the hope of learning the secrets of the Sheikah. After many years of hard work the man was successful and he used the knowledge he had gained to craft three artefacts: the Lens of Truth, the Mask of Truth and the Stone of Agony. These three artefacts, the Emblems of Truth, allowed anyone at all to use the power that came naturally to the Sheikah and they became the man's pride and joy.

Unfortunately for him, the knowledge of the Sheikah arts that had been necessary to create the Emblems came at a terrible price. Prying into the secrets of shadow magic warped the man's mind and drove him insane and instead of putting the Emblems to their intended use he used them to become a murderer and a progenitor of monsters. When his behaviour finally reached the ears of the Sheikah they had been forced to capture him and put him to death rather than allow him to roam free and the three Emblems themselves were seized and subsequently hidden in places where no-one could follow them. According to the story, by the time the Sheikah caught and executed the man he was no longer human enough to die and his ghost still haunted the Kakariko Well, which was built over the spot where that man's house had once been.

Ganondorf's mother used to warn him that the Man in the Well would leave the well, come to his room and pluck his eyes out if he didn't behave just to terrify him. It was obvious, though, that the story was just a fabricated story to keep people from prying into Clan secrets but Ganondorf decided that he'd rather not take that chance. He also got the sense that the Queen was reminding him, in that subversive way of hers, that he was not supposed to be asking questions about Sheikah magic and that he'd better not ask anything else about the subject.

"While you're on your quest in Hyrule there is the off chance that you may run into Zelda," the Queen said. "She'll probably be travelling with a young man around her own age."

"Yes?"

"You need to stay away from her," the Queen finished.

"Stay away from her?" Ganondorf said, stunned. "For what?"

"The elders tell me that the gears of fate are turning once more," The Queen said. "I had hoped it would never come to this but my daughter, my poor Zelda, is the Princess of Destiny and she has gone to find her chosen hero."

Ganondorf, blinked stunned. "And you think that _I'm_ the legendary evil? Is that what you're saying? You want me to stay away from your daughter because you think I might be a monster in disguise?" he demanded, struggling to keep his voice even although he had never been so offended and angry. And hurt. "You looked around and saw hundreds of cannibalistic, undead monsters on the loose and then looked at me and thought I was the evil one?"

The Queen's expression did not falter. "I don't know," she admitted. "To be honest, only the Goddesses can know what is about to happen. But if history is about to repeat itself then the best thing you can do for Zelda and for Hyrule is to keep as far away from her as possible. Do you understand?"

"No I don't," Ganondorf said in an increasingly louder voice, getting up from his chair so quickly that it toppled backwards. "What have I ever done to you to deserve this? I've been acting as the Royal Family's lapdog since I was born and this is how you treat me? Why can't you all just leave me be?"

The heart monitor that had been beeping steadily in the corner of the room rattled violently, threw sparks and then exploded into flames much to the shock of both Ganondorf and the Queen, who turned to look at him with knowing eyes.

"I have to go," Ganondorf said quickly and then swept out of the room amidst the din of the smoke alarms going off and the nurses shouting for assistance before the Queen could even get a word in.

Ganondorf returned to his family's suite as quickly as possible. He didn't run, it was beneath his station to be seen running except for on the battlefield, but he definitely made haste. The Queen had been right about one thing: he definitely hadn't liked what she'd had to say. His sister Tasha was standing in the salon chewing an enormous wad of gum, as was her habit, with a piece of paper in her hand. She gave him a curious glance as he strode past and locked himself in his quarters.

There was a knock on the door.

"What is it?" he barked.

"Yo, Ganny," she called. "Got some mail for ya."

"What?" Ganondorf demanded, throwing the door open only to see Tasha standing there with the scrap of paper in her hand.

"I said there's mail for ya, are you deaf?" Tasha replied as she held the paper up between two fingers, unimpressed by Ganondorf's annoyance. "But I don't know how you could call it mail, it's totally blank."

"What do you mean blank?"

"Don't you know what blank means? It means there's nothing on it, see?" She flipped the paper back and forth to show him both sides although he could plainly see that one side was adorned with a fine, crooked script that he had never seen before.

Ganondorf snatched the piece of paper eyes scanning it hungrily. All it said was " _North-Western Wing Balcony. Third Floor. 9 PM._ "

"Where did you get this?" Ganondorf demanded, although he had a very good idea of who sent him the note.

Tasha shrugged, and took the wad of gum out of her mouth. "Someone gave it to me to give to you," she said.

"What did they look like?" he pressed but Tasha only shrugged again.

"I can't remember what she looked like," she replied. "Geez, Ganny what's the big deal. Probably just one of your many admirers, am I right?"

Ganondorf stared at the note, blood boiling in absolute rage. He tore the note up into strips and tossed them into the fireplace.

"What's your problem?" Tasha asked in surprise.

"Stay indoors," Ganondorf commanded her. "Don't go outside until I get back."

Tasha complained under her breath but the seriousness of his tone had clearly frightened her because she obeyed instead of talking back. Ganondorf marched to the designated rendezvous-point with all the fury of a raging bull. He was early by fifteen minutes but, lucking for him, the beak doctor was never late.

"First of all, how dare you summon me in that manner!" Ganondorf seethed. "And how dare you approach my sister! I don't know who you think you are but—"

"A storm is coming, Ganondorf," the beak doctor said without looking at him. "A mighty storm that will cover the entire world,"

The hair on the back of Ganondorf's neck prickled when he remembered that the Queen had said those exact words to him. _Stop being ridiculous_ , Ganondorf thought, mentally chastising himself. _There's no way he could have been listening in on your conversation with the Queen_. But as soon as the words entered his mind suddenly he wasn't so sure. He had no idea where the beak doctor went to when he wasn't in his line of sight, it could have been anywhere including the hospital ward.

"We need your power to weather it," it finished.

"You seem plenty powerful on your own," Ganondorf said contemptuously.

After a moments' thought the beak doctor replied. "Once, perhaps. But not anymore." At last he turned to face Ganondorf, putting his hand into his cloak and withdrawing something in his fist. "Here, for you," he said as he handed it to Ganondorf, who took it reluctantly.

"A pocket watch." He said, utterly nonplussed.

"A sigil," the beak doctor corrected. "When the time comes use that to call me."

"Your thinking is getting increasingly more wishful, you old crow," Ganondorf growled. "You're crazy if you think I'm going to—" He paused when a sudden realisation dawned on him. "Did you do this?"

"Do what?" the beak doctor inquired of him.

"All this," Ganondorf said, gesturing vaguely at everything. "Were you the one who triggered the re-dead outbreak?"

The plague doctor was silent for a moment, possibly taking a moment to smile beneath his mask. "Why would you ask that?" he said.

"If I were a strange spectral figure this might be the sort of thing I would do," Ganondorf replied.

"Ah," the beak doctor said, the smug note back in his voice. "I told you we were two of a kind,"

"Don't you dare," Ganondorf warned him. " _I_ would never set a plague of the walking dead on my own country. I've spent my entire life trying to rid the world of monsters while you, on the other hand, are trying to mobilise them into an army for your own personal amusement. You're evil one here."

"Still a bit sore are we?" the beak doctor said mockingly. When Ganondorf shot him a confused look it explained, "I overheard your conversation with the Queen."

 _I knew it!_ Ganondorf thought. "You mean you were eavesdropping."

"Supervising," it insisted. "I saw what you did as well. It was wonderful."

Ganondorf scowled at it, falling back into his old habits. Although the beak doctor often visited him Ganondorf rarely spoke to it and was mostly content to ignore it while it stared vacantly at him or spoke to the back of his head. He decided to resume that position now. He had been a fool to speak to it in the first place.

"You realise that here is nothing to be ashamed of, don't you?" the beak doctor said in its deep whisper. "Power like that will always shine through, regardless of how hard you try to hide it. Why, in a way it's a lot like you, Prince Ganondorf. Would you like me to explain how?"

The beak doctor left a perfunctory pause, knowing full well that it would receive no reply. No matter how desperate he was Ganondorf would never leave the beak doctor an opening to worm his way into his mind by asking him questions.

"As you are now, you are like a wild animal: a mighty lion, trapped in a cage. You are trapped there by your own fear, your sense of duty and obligation. They limit you and fence you in like iron bars but only because they are afraid of what you could become if they set you free. They worry that if they let you loose you will tear them apart. But if you remain caged you will only tear yourself apart," the beak doctor told him. "Prince Ganondorf, you must let yourself be free. And you must let the power within you be free as well or else it will destroy you."

Ganondorf rounded on the masked creature, boiling with rage. "I do not want your advice, crow. How many times must I tell you that I neither want nor need your assistance? Stop helping me. Take back your pocket watch and leave me alone," he said in a deadly quiet voice and then threw the watch at the beak doctor's head with all his strength

Unfortunately the beak doctor simply stepped aside, allowing the timepiece to sail over the balcony and into the desert below, where it presumably lost itself in the sand. Then without another word it vanished into thin air.

"And don't you dare approach my family again!" Ganondorf shouted at the empty air, just in case the beak doctor was still listening. It probably was.

The tension immediately went out of his shoulders and he went to grip the railing, gazing sullenly out into the clear, brilliant night time sky in an effort to ignore the pain in his hand. Most days it was just a dull throb but during the past few weeks it had escalated to become almost unbearable. After checking the hall to make sure no-one was about to waltz onto the balcony, he discreetly raised his hand to his face, inspecting the place where the golden triangle had begun to shine through his bandages.


	8. Try Force

"You'll make sure to feed him, won't you?" Ganondorf asked, giving his horse, a magnificent Gerudo stallion called Shadowdancer one last stroke.

The practise of riding horses while hunting was another tradition the Arbiter's had decided to phase out. Vehicles, unlike horses, never disobeyed commands, didn't get scared and, most importantly, couldn't be eaten by monsters although Ganondorf had met one unusually large monster that had gotten it into its head that taking an experimental bite out of one of the rails would be a good idea. Nevertheless, like many highborn Gerudo, Ganondorf still owned and rode a horse. Equestrianism was considered a very noble sport, especially in the desert.

"Of course I'll feed him, Ganny," Nabooru said smugly, taking Shadowdancer's reigns from Ganondorf's hand. "I'm not completely careless."

"I hope you'll also take him out for a ride once in a while," Ganondorf added, stroking the horse's mane distractedly. "I don't want him to be fat and lazy by the time I get back."

Ganondorf ignored her. "You seem distracted today," he observed.

Nabooru's long ponytail swished and tickled his arm as she turned away from him, developing a sudden interest in stroking Shadowdancer's muzzle. Shadowdancer, for his part, was loving all the attention he was getting and nickered happily at her ministrations. "It's nothing," she said.

"Are you sure you're not worried about me?" Ganondorf said with a note of humour in his voice. He was worried too, of course, but it would do no good to act like it. "Because there's nothing to be worried about."

"I said it's nothing," Nabooru said, a little too sharply.

Ganondorf raised his eyebrows at her and Nabooru, seemingly tired of arguing, relented. "I had a dream," she admitted.

"Oh?" Ganondorf prompted, his interest piqued.

The Gerudo placed great importance on the meaning of dreams. Prophetic dreams were a manifestation of the Sight, the ability that allowed the Great Arbiter to see into the hearts of men and women. In the past, the Great Arbiter had looked into the heart of Ganondorf the Terrible and seen the havoc he would wreak on Hyrule and, as such, had sentenced him to die. If there had been a Great Arbiter in his era she could have assessed his own motives and deemed them pure and he wouldn't have to enter a monster-infested wasteland to prove that he would not abuse the kingship.

"I dreamed that you came back home," Nabooru said.

"Well, that sounds like a fantastic dream," Ganondorf said. "Did you happen to see whether or not I was missing any of my limbs, did you?"

"But then after that I had another dream and in that one you came back in a shroud," Nabooru said.

Ganondorf frowned. "If you're gearing up to announce that you're the next Great Arbiter I only wish you'd done it sooner, we could have saved ourselves all this mess." Ganondorf said.

"Ha, right," Nabooru said. "Could you imagine me as the Great Arbiter? Me?"

"I could," Ganondorf said. "There'd be a party at the Arbiter's Grounds every weekend."

"With the tiny little sausages I like?" Nabooru asked.

"But of course," Ganondorf replied with a smile.

Nabooru did not return it. "I'll miss you," she said.

Ganondorf solicitously wrapped his sister in a hug. "I'll miss you too," he said, resting his chin on top of her head of red hair. "I'll try to come back in one piece."

"You better," she said. She looked over his shoulder. "Uh oh, here comes your friend."

Ganondorf looked. Nabooru was referring to Amina, his pre-designated second-in-command. She was tall and strong and a good soldier, according to Lady Aisha, although Ganondorf had never met her personally. Nabooru did not like her at all. She stood at the door of the stables with her muscular arms crossed at her chest, giving the two of them an unreadable look.

"Sorry to interrupt," she said.

"It's not a problem," Ganondorf said, releasing Nabooru. "We were just saying goodbye. Is it time to leave."

Amina nodded. "The convoy is ready," she said.

Ganondorf nodded and he followed her out of the stables to the immense gathering of rails, trucks and other vehicles stationed at the front of the Red Fortress, engines thrumming. Everywhere, the troops were saying their goodbyes to their relatives and partners. Aside from Nabooru, Ganondorf's family was not among them. They had already said their goodbyes in private.

"After you," Amina said, gesturing at one of the rails.

Ganondorf thanked her and climbed in and, after a brief wait, so did everyone else and the vehicles began their long trek into the desert. Nabooru, who was standing at the front of the crowd of well-wishers, waved to him. Ganondorf waved back but when he did Nabooru shook her head wildly, cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted something to him. Ganondorf strained his ears to hear her but the wind blew her words away. He had gotten too far before she could try again.

That had been hours ago. Now, Ganondorf found himself in the head vehicle of a long procession of sand rails. Amina drove the rail leaving him free to sit in the passenger seat and examine the maps. Far on the horizon, he could just make out the shape of the yawning Canyon that separated the Gerudo Desert from the rest of Hyrule. Only once they had arrived at it could the real work could begin.

In the meanwhile, Amina had been briefing him on the details of the infestation. The first reported case of infection had occurred in Kakariko in the early hours of the previous day, although he had been cautioned that 'first reported case' didn't mean 'first case' and that the infection could easily have been in Kakariko for much longer than that, lying in wait and undetected. Since then, word of another outbreak in Castle Town had reached their ears as well although they'd received no intelligence of whether it was an entirely new incident or if the infection had just travelled from Kakariko to Castle Town that quickly.

Riders had already been sent up the river to warn the Zoras of the oncoming threat and to tell them to put the Domain on lockdown. According to all their records, Zoras, if infected became violently ill and died instead of turning. There was nothing to be done for the Gorons, though, if they hadn't realised the threat already. Sending word to Death Mountain would mean sending the couriers through infested territory and they could hardly risk able-bodied women on such a mission.

Either way, it was clear that the Plague was spreading west towards the border. The first order of business would be to make the Canyon impassable to prevent any re-deads from stumbling into the desert and reaching the Gerudo. After that, they would fan out and head east to intercept the infestation and neutralise it before it got too far.

If luck was on their side and the infections hadn't spread beyond Kakariko and Castle Town it would still mean that he would be up against hundreds, if not thousands of re-deads. Ganondorf had only three hundred women at his disposal. Three hundred women who knew that they were most likely marching to their certain deaths and yet didn't voice their concerns. They were the bravest and strongest of warriors and Ganondorf felt strangely honoured to be in their company.

Unfortunately, that feeling was not enough to overshadow his frustration with the fact that the convoy seemed to be taking forever. Although the sand rails and trucks were well suited to the unstable, undulating dunes of the red desert but even then now and again one of them would get a wheel trapped in the sand and the entire convoy had to be stopped so it could be dug out. The troops did this with the swiftness and finesse of seasoned professionals but it still took ages and by the time they arrived at the tail of the Serpent the sun was already high in the sky.

The women oohed and aahed as the convoy crossed over it. Ganondorf, who was seeing the bridge for the second time in the course of less than twenty-four hours, said nothing of it although he could tell that even Amina was impressed by the bridge's size. The Serpent was over a hundred miles long and spanned the Gerudo Canyon at its narrowest point. There were other ways into the desert, of course, but the Serpent It was the only safe route between the desert and Hyrule proper, not to mention the quickest.

Although it had first been built thousands of years ago by the tribe of architects and engineers who had built the Arbiter's Grounds back when the Gerudo Canyon was only a little ravine the Serpent itself was only a hundred years old. Every time Hyrule came under threat the Gerudo destroyed it in order to protect themselves from invasion and as a result it was always built entirely from wood, to make it easier to destroy.

Ganondorf and Amina watched the Serpent from a safe distance away as the troops methodically distributed taped together stacks marked packages around the bridge's supports. Once the job was done and the troops had joined them, one of the women broke away from the group and approached them, carrying the detonator in her hand.

"Will you do us the honour?" she said, handing the switch to Ganondorf.

"Thank you," Ganondorf said but once she was gone he handed it off to Amina. She appreciated blowing things up more than he ever could.

"Fire in the hole!" Amina called, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Fire in the hole!"

Those who were not yet in a safe location scrambled away and Amina, with great relish, detonated the explosives. The bridge went up in a column of fire, sand and pulverised wood as the supports exploded and then toppled like dominoes, carrying what was left the bridge's deck into the with them into canyon with them. It began to rain shrapnel, covering everyone assembled with a fine layer of ash. As Ganondorf raised his hand to shield his eyes from the bits of debris he thought he heard a splash as the pieces of the Serpent disappeared into the blue line of the river far below them.

"Let's move on ladies," Amina barked. "We need to find a safe place to camp before nightfall! Come on, come on, we're burning daylight!"

Just as the troops began the task of packing up their things and piling back into the sand rails to continue the long journey into the east someone at the flank shouted, "Hey, girls! Looks like we got ourselves a live one!"

Everyone's head turned to see what she was pointing at. Curious, Ganondorf looked too only to stare into the glassy, vacant eyes of the first re-dead Ganondorf had ever seen in his life. He was well aware that there were still re-deads in Hyrule, even before the outbreak, but those had been kept deep underground under lock and key where the light of day could never find them. Hearing about one and seeing one were two entirely different things.

The re-dead used to be a woman about his own age in what must have once been a well-tailored work outfit: blue pencil skirt and blazer, ruffled white blouse, high bun at the crown of her head all of it dirty and in tatters. She was inexplicably still holding a blue velvet clutch purse and was staggering towards him with amazing speed for a woman in five-inch peep-toe heels.

Everyone looked at him expectantly. As the highest-ranking person present it was traditional that he get the first crack at whatever monster they found. Ganondorf looked at the re-dead with mild interest as he hopped down from his sand rail and removed the twin sabres from his belt. The re-dead growled at him, making disgusting a wet, gurgling noise. Without a second thought Ganondorf struck with his swords and separated it from its head with a single neat swipe. The re-dead toppled over, hitting the ground with a dull thud. Ganondorf uncaringly stepped over it and climbed back into the sand rail like it never existed and approached Amina in the sand rail.

"I didn't realise the Plague had already spread so far," she said worriedly. "We're only like two hours' drive away from the desert."

Ganondorf made a noncommittal noise. "Tell the troops we're setting up camp here for tonight," he instructed her. "If we go any further we might be up to our ears in monsters. And make sure you give the groups who are on watch tonight a warning so they know what they're doing. We move out at sunrise."

"Yes, Prince Ganondorf," Amina said.

"And have someone take care of that body," he added, jerking his thumb in the corpse's direction. "It smells awful."

Amina nodded and went to follow his orders. Soon, all the vehicles in the convoy were parked around them in a defensive circle and a group of women in white cloaks and veils came to take the body away. These women were clerics, sent along by Lady Aisha to assist with the proper disposal of the bodies. The Arbiters had very specific rules about how certain types of monsters should be disposed of but re-deads, since they were once human, required a special kind of care.

Normally, when the body died its _animus_ , the spark that fuelled all living things that Hylians so crudely referred to as the 'soul', would leave and re-join the Goddesses where it would wait to return to earth in another life. When a corpse was afflicted by Curse of Walking Undeath the _animus_ would be left trapped inside the body, unable to depart for the Sacred Realm and if a re-dead wasn't killed just so the _animus_ would be destroyed.

In the desert the general practise was for the previously un-dead body to beheaded, wrapped up in a black shroud and carried to the Arbiter's Grounds. There they would be left until the birds picked corpse clean and the desert sun bleached the bones of their impurity so that the _animus_ could return to the Sacred Realm. Otherwise the body could re-animate as some other kind of undead.

Unfortunately, in an outbreak of the scale they were dealing with the best they could do was decapitate and burn them, although by doing so they ran the risk of destroying the _animus_. With the Serpent destroyed there was no easy way back into the desert and even if there was it was too risky to carry the cadavers all the way back to the Arbiter's Grounds to be purified since even a deanimated corpse could still spread the plague for several days.

In no time at all small domed tents began to sprout like mushrooms all over the field. Someone had gotten a fire going and had begun to make a stew with their provisions. The smell of carrots and onions permeated the campsite and made Ganondorf feel at home. As he patrolled the camp to ensure that everything was as it should be a voice called to him.

Ganondorf looked over his shoulder at the thought, wondering if the beak doctor was still watching him. He hadn't seen him at all since he'd shouted at him the previous night but that didn't mean he wasn't still there. Especially since, as he was leaving, he'd been searching for some item or other only to find that the watch had reappeared in his pocket. Naturally, he'd thrown it into the desert again only to find that it had returned to his pants pocket about an hour later. He'd already resigned himself to the fact that he could not get rid of the pocket watch by normal means and was wracking his brains for a means to destroy it without using the power of the Triforce.

"Psst," the voice said. "Over here."

Ganondorf turned, drawing both of his swords in one smooth, practised motion. "Who's there?" he demanded of the shadows. "Show yourself at once."

"Shush, it's just me," the voice came again, more clearly this time.

"Just me who?" Ganondorf said, turning towards it.

Nabooru's face appeared out of the shadow between two tents. She hastily beckoned Ganondorf over to her.

"Nabooru? What are you doing here?" Ganondorf said in disbelief but stopped when Nabooru put a finger to her lips and shushed him before waving him towards her again. Reluctantly, Ganondorf hunkered down and crept into the shadows with her. "What are you doing here?" he whispered harshly. "And how in Din's name did you get over the Canyon? We already destroyed the bridge! I hope you didn't take the long way, it's not safe."

"Ganondorf, shush," Nabooru said, looking over her shoulder.

Ganondorf scowled. "This is extremely irresponsible of you. Why didn't you stay at h—" he began but Nabooru clamped her hand down over his mouth before he could get another word out.

"Quiet!" she hissed. "I didn't risk my neck coming all the way out here just to admire the scenery, you know. I came out here because what I'm about to tell you is very important."

Ganondorf reluctantly complied and fell silent. Nabooru removed her hand from his mouth. "Glad you're not the type to lick people," she said with a grin.

"Nabooru, I thought what you had to tell me was 'very important'," he said, making quotes around the words 'very important' with his fingers.

"Right, right," Nabooru said. "I came to tell you that you need to get out of here right now. This whole expedition is a trap, there's a traitor somewhere in your camp."

"Tell me something I don't know," Ganondorf said. "I think we all understand that Lady Aisha sent me out here to die so that I can't become king."

"Surprisingly enough this isn't about the kingship," Nabooru said. "This is about something else. I don't know what they want you for but whatever it is, they need you alive. But why on earth would anybody want to do something like that? No offense, Ganny, but you're worth more to everyone dead."

"Why indeed," Ganondorf said, thinking of the beak doctor and the Triforce.

Nabooru's gold eyes turned suspicious. "Is there something you're not telling me?" she said suddenly.

"Of course not," Ganondorf said, subconsciously sliding his hand behind his back. "You know I've always been completely honest with you. But perhaps there's something you're not telling me. For example, how did you come by this information?"

Nabooru bit her lip. "You're not going to like it," she said.

"Try me."

"I saw it in a dream," Nabooru explained.

"A dream? Well that doesn't necessarily mean anything," Ganondorf countered.

"It does," Nabooru insisted. "There was something about this dream that just spoke to me. It's going to come true, I just know it!"

"You're not really planning to become the Great Arbiter, are you?" Ganondorf said. "I said that as a joke back then."

"You joke?" Nabooru said but then changed the subject when Ganondorf didn't laugh. "I don't know _what's_ happening to me, Ganny, but let's just let this be a secret to everybody for now, alright?"

"But if you do become the Great Arbiter you'll have to live in the Arbiter's Grounds," Ganondorf said. "Who would feed Shadowdancer?"

Nabooru laughed. "I'm sure there's someone somewhere out there who'd be willing to take up the position."

"Unlikely," Ganondorf replied. "Have you met Shadowdancer? That horse has a bad attitude."

Nabooru let out a loud bark of laughter and Ganondorf graced her with one of his rare smiles. "Well, Nabooru, if you do turn out to be the next Great Arbiter do you think…" Ganondorf said hopefully. "Do you think you could judge me?"

Nabooru bit her lip. "I don't know, Ganny. I'm really just getting the hang of this," she said at length. "And for all we know it might not even really be the Sight. I could just have gotten a vision from the goddesses or eaten some rotten dates or something crazy like that. You know how that happens to people all the time." Ganondorf nodded and then retreated into his thoughts, allowing a silence to stretch between them. "So, can I stay?"

"Absolutely not," Ganondorf said, refusing to be caught off guard by the apparent non-sequitur. "You should go back home where you belong. It's dangerous out here and mother is probably waiting for you to come back." An odd look came over Nabooru's face. "Unless you didn't tell her you were leaving, of course," he said suspiciously.

"Well…" Nabooru said, "about that."

"Nabooru!" Ganondorf cried, and then remembering that they were supposed to be keeping quiet he lowered his voice. "You are unbelievable. Mother's probably having a heart attack as we speak!"

"She's not going to have a heart attack," Nabooru said. "I left her a note!"

"Oh, a _note_!" Ganondorf retorted. "Well if you left her a damn _note_ I'm sure that makes everything alright then!"

The sound of soft footsteps caused them both to look up. "Lord Ganondorf, I—" she paused, her eyes sliding from Ganondorf to Nabooru. At the very least he was glad that she had chosen to appear when they were arguing about their mother and not when they were discussing the more sensitive topic Nabooru had come to explain to him. "Oh, sorry, I didn't realise that your sister was accompanying us on this trip."

"She's not," Ganondorf said before Nabooru could get a word in, grabbing her wrist in his giant paw to prevent her from slipping away. "She followed us. Without my consent, I might add. And now she will be leaving us." He tightened his grip on his sister's arm. "Isn't that right Nabooru?"

"Yep. Leaving." Nabooru said, gritting her teeth as she squirmed to release herself from his grasp. Satisfied, Ganondorf loosened his grip only for Nabooru to snatch her arm away from him and flounce off before he could make another grab for her. "Right after I check out the rest of your camp, of course. Gotta make sure my baby brother's living in style." She was gone before Ganondorf could call her back.

Amina sighed. "Can't you control your sister, Lord Ganondorf?" she said.

Ganondorf gave a non-committal shrug. "She's older than me," he said and then excused himself.

Amina tried to call him back but he simply pretended not to hear her and escaped between a group of tents. Nabooru didn't appear at all for the rest of the day and as evening began to give way to night Ganondorf couldn't help but feel the slightest bit skittish. Every soldier was a potential threat, waiting to capture Nabooru and spirit him away.

When the first watch began to gather around the fire Ganondorf joined them. There was no way he was going to be able to sleep at any rate. The women graciously moved around and made a seat for him on the log by the fire.

"Have any of you seen Nabooru?" he asked, plopping himself down with as much dignity as he could manage.

"Nabooru's here?" one of the sentries asked. "That's funny, I figured that if she was here, we'd know about it. She's got such a big mouth."

The other girls laughed as they settled in and began to make small talk to pass the time. A few times they tried to include Ganondorf in their conversation but he was so unresponsive that they eventually stopped trying and eventually his presence began to dampen the mood. The sentries looked more than relieved when the second group came to take their place.

Someone prodded him on the shoulder in an attempt to make him get up. "Don't worry about me," Ganondorf said. "I'm staying out here to keep the watch company."

They prodded again, more forcefully. Ganondorf turned, prepared to give the person bothering him a good telling him off only to find himself nose to nose with the business end of a loaded crossbow. "What in blue blazes?" he said, his eyes travelling up the crossbow to the face of its wielder. "Amina? What the hell's gotten into you?"

"I'm sorry to do this to you, my Lord," Amina said, looking totally unapologetic, "but needs must. On your feet."

Two women stepped into the ring of firelight, dragging a bound and gagged Nabooru struggling between them. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers when she saw him and she tried to shout something to him but the gag wedged firmly between her teeth prevented any sound.

"What are you doing? Release my sister at once!" Ganondorf demanded, looking to the sentries."One of you do something!"

None of them moved. Ganondorf realised that Nabooru had been wrong; there wasn't just one traitor in the camp. There were many.

"Of course, we'll release her, My Lord," Amina said. "So long as you follow my instructions to the letter."

"And what instructions would those be?" Ganondorf asked.

"You must come with us," she said. "Our employer has given us specific orders that we are to bring you to him _unharmed_."

"You're mercenaries," Ganondorf said, cursing his stupidity. Mercenaries were normally rogue agents, freelancers without any real ties to any of the tribes and they were so disreputable that no tribe would take them anyway. The idea that mercenaries had come to be among the ranks of the Arbiters was utterly baffling to him.

"Alright, fine," Ganondorf said, ignoring the vigour with which Nabooru was shaking her head in protest. "I'll play your little game. Take me to him."

"See, I told everyone that you were reasonable," she gestured at one of the troops. "Tie his lordship up and throw him in the rail. Make sure you tie him nice and tight, we don't want him to be uncomfortable, do we?"

Two of the troops approached him with a thick length of rope in their hands. Ganondorf stared them down as they did so, willing them to realise the magnitude of their betrayal. They did not. Instead they bound his wrists, pulling the rope tight until the coarse fibres bit into his skin, and then herded him away into one of the vehicles at the edge of the camp. Ganondorf carefully looked at each of the women around him. He needed to memorise every one of their faces so that when he escaped he could hunt them down and punish them appropriately.

One of the women jerked a bound and gagged Nabooru forward by the forearm. "What about the sister?" she asked.

Amina considered. "We never got any instructions regarding her," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, she's useless. Kill her."

Nabooru's eyes widened.

"I thought you said you would release her," Ganondorf snarled. "I only agreed to let you take me if you would leave Nabooru alone."

Amina offered Ganondorf a cruel smile. "That's really selfless of you," she said mockingly. "You might have made a good king after all. But you know why we can't do that, Lord Ganondorf, if we let her go she might find her way back home and tell the Arbiters what happened to you and we can't have that. Not with the king and queen there."

The two guards forced Nabooru to her knees before Ganondorf's eyes. She looked defiantly up at the one aiming a crossbow at her temple.

"On three?" one of them asked.

"Hell no," Amina replied, approaching Nabooru with a cruel smile. "Do it now and get it over with."

"Alrighty then," the woman replied. Her finger hovered over the trigger. Ganondorf panicked.

"Stop!" he shouted. His hand tingled and burned as a surge of energy pounded through his body and into the earth. The women standing closest to him were incinerated immediately as the air around him burst into flames. The ground exploded as though it had been hit by lightning, throwing columns of dirt and debris and a cloud of blinding white ash into the air. His thick bonds snapped like string and fell away, disintegrating before the pieces could even hit the ground.

Ganondorf ran to Nabooru, dodging the outstretched hands of the women who were still trying to grab him in the cloud of fog. Nabooru's eyes widened when Ganondorf knelt down beside her to cut the ropes away from her hands. Her throat moved as she began to speak but the words were muffled by the gag in her mouth. Ganondorf removed it for her.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded in a whisper.

"It's a long story," Ganondorf said, pulling her to her feet. "Let's get out of here before this smoke clears."

"Leaving so soon, Prince Ganondorf?" Amina said, drifting out of the smoke.

Ganondorf cursed his bad luck. "Nabooru, run!" he shouted, giving her a shove to get her going. Nabooru stumbled forward a few steps but then hesitated, turning back to look at Ganondorf with a torn look on her face.

"Run!" Ganondorf insisted. Nabooru began to run in earnest just as Amina pulled out a blowgun and shot him in the neck. The pain of the burrowing in his flesh was no more substantial than the sting of a mosquito to Ganondorf and he plucked it out and flicked it aside. What had she shot him with? Poison? Sedative? Either way he suspected that he didn't have much time before he succumbed to its effects.

"You know what the good thing about you being here is?" Ganondorf spat, rounding on her furiously. "You've saved me the trouble of hunting you down myself. I'll have you know that what you've just done is an act of high treason, punishable by death."

"Maybe against you," Amina said with a shrug, "but my employer claims he's on a mission from a higher power and I think the designs of the gods are much more important in the long run than the laws of humankind, don't you?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask your higher power that when you see them?" Ganondorf said honestly.

Without further preamble he charged at her only to find that the dart she had shot him with was doing its work. His movements were sluggish and clumsy and Amina stepped easily, almost casually, out of Ganondorf's reach before he could close his fingers around her treacherous throat. He capsized, thrown off balance by the momentum of his own lunge, and landed heavily on the ground like a wounded animal.

He heard Amina laughing at him shortly before her face swam into his blurring field of vision, leering at him. Ganondorf tried to get up, tried to push himself to his feet so he could throttle her, but his arms and legs had become so weak and leaden that he couldn't even summon the strength to wince when Amina spitefully kicked him in the stomach.

"Traitor," Ganondorf spat. His mouth seemed to be the only part of him that still worked and even then it took a monumental effort.

Amina knelt beside him and stroked his hair, brushing his braids out of his face with disturbing gentleness. "No, I'm mercenary, remember?" she reminded him with an unrepentant smile. Ganondorf was about to move to bite off her fingers when the darkness that had been looming at the edges of his vision suddenly closed in on him.

 


End file.
